Sparkling Waters
by Savabelle
Summary: Originally, Orabelle went to land to escape sea monsters. Now as it turns out, she's leading a team of dysfunctional but loving princesses into their battle against the evil that's plaguing the sea. And it'll be fun between that, right? Or maybe not... -Takes long to update. Sorry about that. Getting a tumblr!
1. Golden Angel

Just so y'all know, I've got a site of this fic now, click on my username and then click 'homepage'. I plan on added all kinds of stuff up there~

Chapters get longer and better as the story goes on because I'm too lazy to re-write.

…….

Orabelle Arella pushed her reddish brown out of her face. She was nervous, but it was understandable; it was her first day of real school, after all. Kind of odd at fourteen, but you have to start at some point.

"Okay," She said, taking a breath. "I can do this." She paused. "Okay, maybe not. Feet, take it away before I decide to leave."

She took a step forward, then paused, having second thoughts and a weird knot in her stomach. She took another step forward, then another, trying to push through her horrible feeling and nervous thoughts. _Just blend in_. She told herself. _It's just like it is at home, only with more people and guys._

She at least managed to step through the doors before wanting to leave again. And she probably would have left, if the bell didn't sound off and shake her out of her thoughts. She didn't know where her first class was, so she just followed a group of people, hoping to be in the right one. She waited for everyone to go in, and then went last.

"Um, is this the right room?" She asked, half wondering and half hoping.

"Only if you're the new student," The teacher said, not looking up from the pile of papers in his hands. "If not, might as well grab a seat anyway."

_At least he has a sense of humor._ Orabelle thought. She cleared her throat, but that lumpy feeling didn't go away. "I'm the shiny new toy." She said shyly.

The teacher put down the papers and looked at her through his black circle-frame glasses. He looked a bit young to be a teacher. "Would you mind introducing yourself?" He asked nicely.

"I'm Orabelle Arella, I'm not from around here, please excuse me if I goof stuff up." Orabelle said, taking a quick bow. She wasn't sure if she was supposed to do that, but she did it anyway.

"I'm Hiro Satomi, the teacher," He said. "But you can just call me Hiro, everything else sounds too formal. You can sit behind Umi-San. Please raise your hand, Umi-san."

A boy somewhere in the middle-left of the room raised his hand. He had brown hair and brown eyes, like almost everyone else in the room, except his were lighter. He also looked very bored; Orabelle took her seat behind him, almost tripping on her way over. She could feel almost every pair of eyes in the room on her, making her blush. She'd never been around so many people of the opposite sex before. Actually, she had _never_ been around anyone of the opposite sex before.

The class dragged on from there. Or at least it felt like that to Orabelle. She tried hard to pay attention, she even got called on once, but she was distracted, thinking about what she was supposed to be doing. And once it was done, she could go back home.

The bell rang again, scaring her so much that she almost jumped out of her seat. _Must be break time. _She thought. _Why else would the teacher leave and everyone start getting up and pulling out lunch boxes? I should have brought a lunch box..._

She got out of her seat and went to the window, looking out it. She could see a far away beach, the ocean, and her own reflection. She didn't like how she looked; _I used to be so pretty._ She thought. Her hair was similar to her old style, but it was shorter now, and her eyes were a muddy brown shade. She could be considered pretty to everyone else, even highly attractive, but she didn't like how she looked.

Someone tapped on her shoulder. She turned around to see a small group of girls around her, staring at her like she had two heads or something. There were three of them; the one on the left was very pretty, but her hair was blonde, clearly dyed, and it looked weird. The one on the right was also pretty, with dark hair and light brown eyes. The last one, the one in the middle, was prettier than the both of them combined, and the short haircut she had would keep her like that for a while. "Um, how do you pronounce your name again?" The one in the front asked.

"Um, it's Or-a-bell, Ar-ella," She said. _It isn't that hard... _"Arella is my last name."

"Well then, Arella-san, would you like to be our friend?" She asked, a little too overly-sweet. "I'm Hoshi, the blonde one is Mio, and the other is Aya."

"Yeah, please Arella-san?" Mio and Aya said in unison, smiling.

Orabelle didn't know what to say. While they are being nice, she didn't even know them. She didn't have to say anything though, because another girl with both dark reddish or pinkish eyes and hair done up in short pigtails came over and stood next to her. "Don't listen to them, they're evil." She said.

"Oh look, its little Shinju and her side-kick, the bitchiness." Hoshi said, quickly turning from sweet to rude.

"That's Shinju-SAN, bitch-"

"HEY, break it up!"

Orabelle turned to see who said that; it was the boy she was sitting behind, Umi, and he looked annoyed. "You shouldn't be fighting in school, it isn't the place, and either is anywhere else."

"But-" Shinju and Hoshi started, but Umi wouldn't let them finish. He cut them off before they could say anything. "No buts, you can't justify acting like little kids fighting over a toy. It's rude and shameful to yourself."

Shinju and Hoshi stormed off in a huff, sitting back down in their seats and glaring at each other. Mio and Aya went back to their seats, too. _I wonder what their problem is..._

"Um, thanks..." Orabelle said. "But wasn't that a little, well, _mean_?"

"There's no excuse for being brats in public, and if they aren't going to be nice to each other, why should I be nice to them? It isn't going to make them stop fighting." Umi shot back.

_SOMEONE woke up on the wrong side of the bed..._ She crossed her arms. "Well THAT'S rude, I didn't do ANYTHING." She said, suddenly annoyed. She could feel that knot in her stomach come back, only it felt worse than last time.

"Exactly, you could have stopped them, but you didn't." He said. "It'll probably happen again, but next time, don't just stand there." He walked off and sat back to his seat.

"Jerk." Orabelle mumbled. She went back to her seat and steamed over what just happened for the rest of the school day.


	2. Pink Pearl Voice!

Screw it, I'm posting the next chapter NOW~ I'm also just gonna have the mermaids and bad guys understand all languages, because there's no explanation why the mermaid who speak English in the anime/manga sing and understand Japanese. It's a cop-out, I know, but that's all I could think of D:

Yay, my first review! Thanks Megumi Rin!

Oh, and I don't own Mermaid Melody, I only own my characters and this fanfic. Soyeah D:

…….

Orabelle stepped out the front doors of the school. _Why is it so dark? It should still be morning_... She looked up to see a cloudy mess called 'the sky'. It wasn't like that earlier, so she didn't bring her umbrella. Even worse, it was starting to rain.

While the rain was still very light, she ran for the beach she had seen. Her home was too far away to get to before getting drenched, so the beach would have to do.

The rain picked up, resulting in her getting soaked half way to the beach. "Oh no!"

An odd rainbow light surrounded her, changing her from human to mermaid; her hair grew several feet longer and turned a golden yellow, being held apart by two yellow pearl bands above the middle. Her eyes turned a light gold color, and instead of her summer school uniform and legs, she had a yellow seashell bra and a pineapple-yellow tail, with two loops of yellow pearls above her fin and on her left wrist and big hoop earrings. When she finished changing, she fell on her stomach.

"OW!"

She was in big trouble now. How was she going to get to the beach, or home for that matter, without being seen and without having legs? She grabbed at the ground, pulling herself forward. It hurt, but it was either keep moving or get seen, or even possibly something worse.

She wasn't getting very far, though. The ground was wet and any grass she grabbed at ripped, and when it didn't, the sides felt like they were cutting her hands. But really, what else could she do?

She made it a few feet before stopping; her stomach hurt too much. She turned her lower half over to find a big bruise that was slowly turning purple on her stomach. "Great," She mumbled. "So I either stay here and hope no one finds me, but they probably will, or keep moving, be in pain, and probably still get seen....both options suck."

She took a minute to think, decided on to keep moving. Yes, it hurt, and yes, it was going to help make that bruise worse, but it was better than staying there and getting found by someone she didn't know and ending up in some aquarium or side-show circus on display.

The rain wasn't making it any easier; it just kept coming down harder on her. Soon enough, she couldn't grab onto anything because it was all so wet. She put one arm down in front of herself and pulled, then repeated with her other arm. She continued to do so until she was on the beach, but she hurt too much and was too tired to make it to the water.

"Why...am I...so...tired?"

She fell asleep two feet away from the sea. But really, why was she so tired...?

…….

"I've got you, pretty little princess." A female voice said. The owner of it stepped out of the sea. It was a young, but very tall, woman with short black hair, amber-colored eyes, fair skin and a light patch of freckles across her nose and cheeks. She was wearing a black sundress that stopped above her knees and a pair of strappy toe-loop sandals."And the best part is, you can't get away!"

She lifted up one of her hands with a ball of water formed in it. She used her other hand to spin her fingers above it, creating a waterspout. The end of it didn't go to the bottom of the water ball, instead it went out the side and wrapped around the yellow mermaid with a very tight hold.

"Come on little princess, I have to take you back to Agent." She said, turning around. The water bonds followed her without breaking. She put one foot in the water before something stopped her.

"HEY! Put her down!" Someone yelled. The black-haired girl turned to see someone younger behind her, someone with dark red-hued pigtails and eyes; it was Shinju.

"Why, is she your friend?" The dark girl asked.

"Actually, I don't even know her, but I know she's a princess and you're kidnapping her!" Shinju yelled back.

"My name isn't 'you're', its Amber. And who are you?"

"My name is Rose Shinju, and I'm about to kick your ass." She smiled, and then called out, "Pink pearl voice!"

The pink shell locket around her neck opened and a little pink pearl flew out of it. It covered in pink light, a shockwave-like ring of light came off of it, then it turned into a blue & white microphone. A rainbow light covered Rose, making her eyes and hair lighter and her pigtails grow ankle-long, now being held in by high-up pearl and shell bands. A dress appeared on her, with a very light pink skirt, a slightly dark pink belt-like swirl band above it, and a sleeveless top that was a bit darker than the skirt, connected to a tall pink choker. Lighter pink knee-boots & elbow-gloves then appeared on her, with the same swirled 'belt' at the tops, with a layer of ruffles coming out of them and pink pearl earrings. She grabbed the microphone with the pink pearl in the middle, then spun around once to signify the transformation was complete.

"ANOTHER mermaid princess? I hit the jackpot!" Amber said, smiling. She didn't even notice the ball of light Rose was standing in, or the music in the air.

"Pichi Pichi Voice Live Start!"

Rose put the microphone to her lips and began to sing.

"Nanairo no kaze ni fukarete tooi misaki wo mezashiteta

"Yoake mae kikoeta MERODI

"Sore wa totemo natsukashii uta"

Amber quickly dropped her ball of water, shattering like glass on the ground, to covered her ears. The water restraints released their tight hold on Orabelle, dropping her into the sea, still asleep. Rose's voice was hurting Amber, even though it sounded like a voice of an angel. Her song was making the rain calm down, too.

Rose continued to sing her song, even dancing a bit.

"Higashi no sora e to habataku toritachi

"Saa, takarajima ni nukeru chikamichi"

Amber cried out in pain, but Rose still didn't stop. The longer she sang, the more pain it brought on Amber's ears. She couldn't block out the singing, giving her one Hell of a headache.

"Nanatsu no umi no rakuen

"Arashi no yoru no ato ni wa ai wo tsutaerutame inochi ga mata umareru

"Nanatsu no kuni no MERODIA

"Daremo ga itsuka wa koko wo tabidatsu hi ga kitemo

"Watashi wa wasurenai~"

The music faded and Rose smiled. She put one hand up, brought it down half-way where she was pointing at Amber, and said, "Sugar Shine Pitch! How about an encore?"

"Ugh, I don't want your horrible encore!" Amber yelled before she vanished in a swirl of black mist.

Rose shook her head. _They never do want one_. She thought. _I'll find that princess again later._

Rainbow light covered her again, and then came off of her in shreds, turning her back into a human. She walked herself off the beach.

…….

Orabelle opened her eyes. "Wh...where am I?" she blinked once, then looked around. "Wait a second, I'm in water! I don't remember falling asleep in water!"

She swam as fast as she could to the surface. _Didn't I fall asleep on the beach? Actually, I don't remember falling asleep at all! Why was I so tired?_

She swam above the surface and looked around. She was still at the beach, it was already night, but how did she get in the water?

"Whoa, a mermaid!" Someone exclaimed. Orabelle look over her shoulder to see that jerk Umi staring back at her. She went back underwater, head-first, with her tail flying up above the water before going back under. "Wait! Come back!"

She didn't listen. She just swam as far away as she could. _Why was Umi there, anyway? Its night, don't people ever go home?_ She thought._ Oh no! I still have to go home!_

She stopped and then started swimming the other way. _Alice is going to kill me_. She arrived back at the beach and climbed out if the sea, shaking any water that clinged to her off. That same rainbow light covered her again when she got dry enough, changing her back from mermaid to human, back into her summer school uniform and yellow sneakers. Her hair shortened and turned reddish-brown, and her eyes turned back to that muddy color.

She stood up and started running.

…….

See that little button there? Please click it~ It lets me know if you like the story or if I need to improve or anything else. It makes me happy to know SOMEONE likes it XD I'm afraid no one will like it, but I'm not going to trash it if someone doesn't.

Review please :D

V


	3. Café Sucre Rêves

Fwooo~ Next chapter! :D

Thanks to CocoxLadybat for reviewing!

…….

Orabelle opened the door to a two-floor ocean-side café that said Café Sucre Rêves on the front, done up in a cream-white while the rest of the building was cinnamon brown.

"Orabelle-chan! You're late!" Was the greeting she got when she stepped in. The room was cinnamon brown with light wood flooring, with fancy tables and chairs set up all throughout the room. The big silver clock above the kitchen door said 6:47, making her almost two hours late.

"How nice." Orabelle replied, rolling her eyes.

A honey-blonde woman with dark yellow eyes walked over to her, hands full of dessert and pudding and pastry trays. "I need help, this place is getting too popular for me to make and serve everything alone!" She said.

"Okay, okay, calm down, I'll help."

"Great! I've got to go deliver these. Your uniform is on your bed." The blonde woman said, trying to flip her hair out of her face. She walked off, stopping momentarily at a table to drop off a ramekin of some chocolate crème brûlée and a fancy bowl of sherbet to two girls. They thanked her, and she was on her way to the next table.

Orabelle walked over to the bathrooms and pushed the cleaning cart out from in front of another door that said 'employees only'. She opened that door, and it led to some stairs. She went up those stairs to another door, and she opened that one. Behind it was her temporary home for however long she was to stay on land. She walked down the hall, past Alice's room, past the bathroom, past the laundry room, to her bedroom.

She turned on the lights; her room was pretty much empty. There was a bed frame with two pillows and a mattress on it, a bag of yellow bedding on the floor, a desk with a lamp & clock on it, a dresser, an orange umbrella in the corner, a big stand-up mirror, and a white ceiling fan. No personal stuff of any kind.

On her bed was a short yellow shoulder-sleeve dress with thick lighter yellow stripes spaced far apart on it, a big bow on the back of the same light yellow, and a white apron. She picked up the uniform; it was softer than she imagined.

She pulled her shirt off and blushed. _Stupid human body._ She thought. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught her reflection in the mirror; that was one big bruise on her stomach. She ignored it and continued to undress. She pulled her skirt off, then pulled the dress over her head. She put the apron on, folded up her school uniform and set it on top of her dresser, then went back downstairs and into the kitchen. It looked like Kitchen Stadium, restaurant version.

"Alice-san, what do I do now?" She asked.

The blonde woman came out of the walk-in fridge. "You don't need to call me Alice-san. You're the princess, not me, so please just call me Alice. Over there is the floor plan," Alice pointed to a big poster of an aerial-view of the main room; every table had a number, going from 1 to 30. "When you learn where it is, please take that flan, pot de creme and mousse to table 10."

"I'll do my best." Orabelle smiled.

"And I know you will, little princess," Alice said, picking up two trays full of crème brûlées and cakes and a cheddar & apple clafouti. "I'll see you out there, Orabelle-sama." She pushed the door open with her foot and went out.

Orabelle looked at the floor plan. "This should be easy, table 10 is the first table on the right wall." She said to herself. She grabbed the silver tray of treats and went out the two-way kitchen doors. _This room is beautiful_. She though. And she was right; the golden light from the chandeliers added to it, giving the room an elegant, yet fun atmosphere.

She made her way over to table 10, and who other than Hoshi, Mio and Aya to be sitting there? "Who ordered the flan?" She asked.

"Arella-san? You work here?" Hoshi asked, slightly surprised.

"Um, y-yes." She replied. She was slightly worried that Hoshi would go all crazy again, like she did at school.

"You're so lucky!" Aya said, her light-brown eyes practically sparkling. "I mean, you get to be here with all those heavenly sweets!"

"Yeah, I'm sort of jealous." Mio added in, smiling. That comment made Orabelle blush a little bit.

"Oh, can the gushing," Hoshi said, rolling her eyes. "Look, you look nervous. If it's because of what happened at school, I'm sorry about that. But Shinju's always been a rude bitch ever since she transferred. I don't know what her problem is, but she doesn't like me. I know that's hard to believe, but that's the truth."

"Maybe it's because you made fun of her hair then trashed her around the school about being gay or something when she told you to 'screw off'. 'Dyes her hair with dead fish blood', was it?" Mio wondered aloud. Orabelle was a little shocked about this; would Hoshi do that to her if they weren't friends?

"That never happened!" Hoshi snapped, once again going from sweet to rude. "She's kidding, that didn't happen."

"But-" Aya started, but Hoshi quickly cut her off.

"IT DIDN'T HAPPEN."

"Gee Hoshi-chan, your inside voice is a little loud today." Mio said. "Could I please have my flan?"

"Sure." Orabelle handed over the plate of jiggling flan. Mio picked up the medium-sized spoon off that table and took a bite of her flan.

"Mmmmm, I love the flan here." Mio said, taking another bite.

Hoshi rolled her eyes at both of them, then asked for her mousse. Orabelle handed it to her, then gave the last sweet to Aya. "I'd love to stay and chat, but I've got work to do." She said.

"I'll see you later, Arella-san." Hoshi replied, licking the mousse off her spoon.

"Yeah, see you later!" Aya and Mio said together in unison again. _Do they practice that?_

Orabelle went back to the kitchen, wondering why they were so odd. But maybe that's how humans act. Mermaids and humans ARE different, after all.

"Hey there, Goldie!" Alice said, walking through the door with two empty silver trays. "Ready for round two?"

"Yes." Orabelle smiled.

They waited tables all night, delivering treats, cleaning, and seating them. They locked up at nine, then went back to the kitchen to wash dishes. The put as many as they could in the dishwasher, then cleaned the rest by hand. With rubber gloves on, of course.

"What's on your mind?" Alice asked, rubbing chocolate off a plate.

"Hm? Oh, nothing." Orabelle replied, scrubbing out a ramekin that had some sort of custard stuck in it. The truth was, she was thinking of home. But she was afraid that if she told Alice, she'd think that she didn't want to be there. Which was sort of true.

"Really? Because you seem quiet."

"I guess I just have nothing to say." Orabelle rinsed off the ramekin, put it in the dish drainer, then started cleaning another ramekin.

"Is that so? Well then, you're an odd princess. I thought for sure you'd be bossing me around or something. Or at least complain about washing dishes." Alice wondered aloud, rinsing off her plate and putting in the drainer next to the ramekin. She picked up a bowl and started cleaning it out.

"Nah. Besides, I need to get used to human things, considering that I'll be here a while-" She stopped mid-sentence. "What was that weird rumbling noise?"

"Your stomach, kiddo." Alice rinsed her bowl out and put it down in the drainer, then pulled her gloves off. "Here, you continue with the dishes, I'll go make dinner."

"Okay." Orabelle said happily. Alice left for the walk-in freezer. Truth be told, Orabelle didn't mind washing the dishes. Cleaning the food bits off of them made them all sparkle and shine and so clear that she could see her reflection.

Alice returned a few minutes later with a small pack of salmon. She pulled a frying pan and a medium-sized soup pot off the pan hanger and a bag or rice out from under a counter. She turned on a stove burner and put the frying pan on it, then came over to the sink again to fill the soup pot with water. She put the pot on the stove to boil.

Orabelle didn't pay it much mind. She was cleaning a glass before she smelled something in the air. _What IS that? It smells...good._ She rinsed the glass and put in the drainer, then went to the stove to see what Alice was doing.

"What's that smell?"

"That would be butter.'" Alice smiled. She grabbed a spatula and spread butter around the pan, watching it melt. She then opened the salmon and put both pieces in the pan, the butter sizzling under it.

Orabelle watched, eyes wide with wonder as Alice cooked the fish. _Is this really how humans prepare food? _She wondered.

Alice left for a minute, then came back with a lemon, salt, and a knife. She put the salt and lemon on the counter, the cut the lemon in halves. She put the knife down, sprinkled some salt on the fish, then squeezed one of the lemon halves on the fish, catching the seeds.

"You know, it's cute how you're so amazed," Alice said, smiling. Orabelle blushed slightly; was she being cute? Or was that the motherly side of Alice talking?

"I'll go finish those dishes," Orabelle said. "Does this need washed?" She picked up the knife.

"Yeah, but be _very_ careful with it, you could cut yourself." Alice replied.

Orabelle was very careful with it. She washed, then rinsed, then put it in the drainer, all without cutting herself. She finished washing everything in the sink and pulled her gloves off, right before Alice walked up behind her and grabbed two plates & forks. "Food's done." She said.

"It smells...I don't know, good?"

"You mermaids are waaay too used to sushi," Alice rolled her eyes. "But that's okay, because that means cooked food will taste a billion times better because you've never had it. C'mon, let's go sit at a table in the main room." She smiled again.

Alice was right; cooked food was REALLY good. At least to Orabelle, anyway. It was unlike anything she had ever tasted in the mermaid world, which was full of seaweed and riceless sushi, and even shellfish depending on which kingdom it was.

Later that night, after she had gotten a bath and scrubbed her tail to the point the scales were coming off, she changed into the pair of yellow pajamas that were sitting in her dresser and put the sheets & blanket on her bed that she probably should have put on last night when she arrived.

She fell asleep as soon as she got under the covers. She wasn't having a very good dream, though. It could be called a nightmare, but it was actually more of a memory.

…….

Please keep reviewing. You don't have too, but it lets me know that you want me to keep writing~

V


	4. Dreaming, It's Raining

YAY NEXT CHAPTER~

And now~.... Thank you Awesome Rapidash for the review  
(EDIT: Wow, I'm stupid :U Stupid personality disorder makes me dumb. And I know 'got' is a dead word, but people talk funny and don't use proper grammar. Editing a bit though.)

And thank you Mo12341234 for the review, I will update soon. Like now :D!

…….

"Princess Orabelle! You've got to leave!" A yellow mermaid said as she swam in. "Quickly! You have to find the other princesses!"

"I thought I wasn't leaving for two more days?" Orabelle said as a half-reply and half wonder to herself. _Wasn't that the plan?_

"I'm sorry, but-" The yellow mermaid was cut off by the sound of an explosion. Part of the ceiling above the princess cracked and she swam out of the way just before it fell.

"What the Hell?" She yelled, pushing her hair out of her face. A light yellow flower fell out of her golden hair.

"I'm so sorry about that, my girls can be so rough." Someone said. Someone not in the room and someone she clearly didn't know. "Amber, Layla, would you like to apologize?"

"Not really." Two female voices said together.

"Please excuse them. While they may not be high on manners, they are very nice girls."

"W-who are you?" Orabelle asked, shaking. _Why's someone destroying my castle? Someone's going to get hurt!_

"Me? You can just call me 'Agent'. I come from the darkest depths of the sea. I know everything about you, you pretty, little, yellow fishy. Tell me, would you like to come back to my castle? We're having a sort of...party, you could call it."

"Um, no thanks," She replied. "I'd rather stay here."

"Well then, I'm sorry, but we'll just use force then. Amber, Layla? Bring her back to the castle. I'll see you back there."

Two women stepped into the room. One with short black hair and freckles, wearing a black sundress, and the other with long honey-brown hair, light purple eyes, and a light blue outfit.

"Wh-what are you going to do?"

"Just destroy the castle and kidnap you." The one with black hair said. She smiled; it was hard for Orabelle to see her as evil, because she was really cute. But then again, the cute ones are always evil.

"Would you like to help rule all the oceans, princess? We need your pearl and just plain taking it is such a hassle." The purple-eyed one said. She flipped her hair, then smiled.

"No!"

They both smiled. "You brought this on yourself." the black-haired woman said. They both started creating incredibly strong water waves that were reducing the South Pacific Ocean castle to rubble.

"Should we continue, or will you come with us?" The purple-eyed out asked.

Orabelle could hear screaming from every room of her castle. Her hands were balled into tight fists, and she was unknowingly crying.

"Well?"

She pulled the flowers out of her hair, then started pulling her gloves off. "Screw you."

"WHAT?" The two yelled. Orabelle dropped her gloves on the ground, then swam out of the room as fast as she could while pulling the skirts and bows off. _I don't need extra weight_. She thought. She wasn't going to be nice, she wasn't going to be lady-like, and she wasn't going back to pick her princess attire up; she just wanted to leave before she could be captured.

She thought for a brief moment that there wasn't anywhere to go, because the other princesses have probably already or are about to be attacked, but she remembered the plans; she was going to land, to stay with another mermaid at her dessert café, to escape the sea demons. Kind of ironic, considering she was supposed to leave before they attacked.

Yellow pearls fell out of her hair as she swam away. Too bad she didn't know they were leaving a trail from the castle to her location...

…….

Orabelle opened her eyes to find that she was in a dark bedroom completely unlike her bedroom back home. The sun was starting to rise; she could tell from the lightening dark-blue sky she could see from the window. She could also see the sea, which she missed very much.

_Wait a second, why am I sitting up?_

She looked over to the clock. _Two hours until I have to get up. Might as well go back to sleep._

She lay back down and squeezed her eyes shut, praying that she wouldn't dream again.

…….

Orabelle sighed. Why did it have to rain again today? At least this time she brought her umbrella. And a bento box too, that Alice had packed for her before she was even out of bed. She'd also washed her pink and red uniform before Orabelle got up.

None of these things, though important, helped her learn her way around. _There should be school maps..._

Right when she went for the school doors, a limo blocked them off, almost running her down. _Damn it! Pay attention, stardust-for-brains!_ She thought. _You'll get yourself run over! What is that, anyway?_

A girl with a dark-blue umbrella stepped out. And just like all girls who step out of limos, she was pretty. More attractive than your average schoolgirl. She also had something weird to her, too; her hair. Not the style it was in, but that fact that it was blue. Pale dark blue. Orabelle didn't pay it any mind though. If mermaid could have unnatural hair colors that are natural for them, then why not humans?

The dark-haired girl went in the school and the limo left, clearing the way for everyone else. Orabelle went in the school, once again pulling a freeze moment after putting her umbrella down in some holder thing by the door; where the Hell was homeroom again?

"Ugh!" She complained to herself. "There should be a map to this place!"

"There is. Didn't you get yours?"

Orabelle turned around to see Rose behind her. _Okay, was she listening to me or was I being loud?_

"Um, no," She replied, slightly embarrassed. "Where do I get it?"

Rose sighed. "Come on."

Orabelle followed her to an office where the woman at the counter asked why she didn't show up yesterday. Her response? She didn't know she was supposed to. She gave her a map of the school and a class schedule, then asked Rose to take her to class since they're both in the same one.

"So, Arella-san, where are you from?" Rose asked as they left the office.

She took a second to think. _Oh hell, I could be from several places._ "Er, the west side of Australia, I moved here a few days ago." She lied.

"Then where's your accent?"

"I don't have one. That's probably why they got rid of me."

Rose smiled. "I like you, you're funny. What was your first name again? Orabella? What kind of a name is that, anyway?"

"Actually, it's Orabelle. But people unknowingly goof up and call me 'Orabella' a lot. I've even done it," She said. "It means 'golden' in Greek. And 'beautiful seacoast'."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Well, could I just call you Belle?"

"Depends. What can I call you?" She asked back. Rose hated it when people answer questions with questions, but she answered anyway.

"Rose. It's my first name, anyway."

"Well then, you can call me Belle, and I'll call you Rosie-chan!"

Rose sighed, then mumbled "I hate Rosie. It makes me sound like a little kid..."

They went to their classroom and took their seats, just as the teacher walked in, all bright-eyed and smiley-faced.

"Good morning, everyone!" He said cheerfully.

"Good morning Hiro-sensei!" Everyone replied.

"So how was everyone's day yesterda- Oh! Hello, Geller-san!"

Everyone looked to the door, to see the limo-ridding dark blue-haired pretty girl. _She looks....sad._

"I'm sorry I'm late," She said. "I wasn't feeling well again, so I stopped by the nurses' station first."

"It's okay, you aren't even late." The teacher replied. She took her seat somewhere in the middle of the class, with almost everyone turning to look at her with smiles, whispering something about 'Maria-san being back'.

Orabelle made her way through class again, paying more attention than yesterday, but felt somewhat depressed about leaving home the way she did. She tried to wipe those thoughts from her mind by focusing harder on what the teacher was saying, but talk about a yellow mermaid being seen at the beach last night made her nervous.

She did pretty well in school today, even taking an interest in the harp when in the music room. She'd luckily avoided the jerk she has to sit behind in homeroom, but she somehow ended up sort of making friends with two people who hate each other. Even weirder, Hoshi seemed to be pissed at Rose calling her 'Belle' at lunch.

"Hey, you wanna go shopping with us?" Hoshi asked as Orabelle stepped out the school doors. It was still raining, and she almost dropped her umbrella because she didn't expect someone behind her.

"I would," Orabelle started. "I do have two hours before work, but I left my money at home..."

"Oh," Hoshi replied. "Maybe next time?"

"Okay!"

"Bye then." Hoshi walked out, Aya and Mio trailing behind her.

"Bye, Arella-san!" They said together.

Orabelle sighed. She'd never been shopping before, but she really did leave the money she made it tips yesterday at home. Which really sucked, because she did need some clothes. You can't live on school uniforms, pajamas and your work uniform forever.

She started walking down the street. Kids hurried out of the school, running right past her. Some of them weren't as rude, just walking by. She caught bits and pieces of conversations about a yellow mermaid being seen, and some people saying they thought it was pink. Is there another mermaid, or was that just a case of failing colors in kindergarten? It didn't matter though, because they probably weren't going to see her again.

And yet she still went to the beach. Who would go to the beach in the rain, she had no idea, but being near or in water made her happy. She picked up her pace to the point she was almost running, arriving at the beach in minutes.

"Oh great." she sighed. Jerk-boy was there, starring at the ocean. She sighed again. "I guess there's no point avoiding him 'cause I'll run into him at some point, might as well get it over with."

She stepped onto the sand. It was a sticky pasty mess, same as it was yesterday. The only difference was that she wasn't crawling through it today. She walked over to the swaying water, pretending she didn't see Umi.

She didn't want to go over to him, so why not bring him to her? She didn't want to talk to him, but feeling annoyed and mad every time she saw someone didn't feel good. She twirled her umbrella handle, flicking rain water everywhere. She giggled slightly loud to bring attention to herself.

Manipulative? Yes, but acting cute and unaware of everything else really does get people interested in you. "What are you doing?"

"Hm?" Orabelle turned to look at him. _Why doesn't he have an umbrella?_ "Is it any of your business? And can I ask the same thing, or are you going to get pissy again?"

"Well not that it's any of _your_ business, but I'm looking for someone." He replied, rolling his eyes.

"Well as long as it's none of my business, who is it?" She asked, rolling her eyes back at him. "And don't say I wouldn't know them because I just moved here."

"Well excuse me, princess, but unless you believe in magical creatures, you probably wouldn't care."

"Why did you just call me 'princess'?" Orabelle asked, a bit shocked. How could someone know she was a princess? Then again, sarcasm is lost on mermaids, so she didn't know he was joking.

"Well, you're being snobby like one."

"Well, I wouldn't be snobby if you weren't rude."

"Rude? You don't even know me!"

"Yeah, well I know you decided to yell at me yesterday and you don't know me, so it's fair enough to say so."

Umi sighed. "Fine, you win, stop arguing. Yeah, that was rude of me, I'm sorry, are you going to keep this up until you win?"

"Oh, so I win now?" Orabelle smiled. Actually, this arguing was...fun for her. Why was that? It was a princess thing, actually; they like getting their way.

"Yes, you win. Now to answer your original question, I'm looking for a mermaid. A yellow one. I don't care what everyone else says, I saw a yellow mermaid, not a pink one."

"You're looking for a mermaid...in the rain?" She asked. What mermaid in their right mind would be at the beach in the rain? _Scratch that, I'm here._

"Well, when you say it like that, it sounds stupid." He replied. "It also makes me wonder why I didn't bring an umbrella."

"Because maybe you're crazy?" Orabelle twirled her umbrella again, flicking water on him.

"Hey!"

She couldn't help but giggle. "Sorry, but you're already wet!"

He sighed. "I guess you're right."

"EEEP!" A wave rolled up the shore, soaking Orabelle's shoes and feet. It wasn't enough water to turn her into a mermaid, but it was pushing the limit. She jumped back. "Wet feet!"

"It's just water, it'll dry." Umi said, rolling his eyes again.

"I'm afraid of water, I can't swim." Orabelle lied. She hated lying, but there wasn't anything else she could do, unless she wanted him to know that she's the mermaid. That'll get her turned into bubbles!

"You're afraid of water," He said. "And yet, you're standing at the beach, in the rain. Who's crazy now?"

"I was trying not to think about that, thanks," She said. "I'm going to go now, good luck looking for that mermaid. You don't see them very often!"

"Exactly my point, that's why I'm out here! Goodbye!"

Orabelle left the beach, her shoes making wet squishing sounds every time she took a step. She looked back; was he really going to stay there, looking for a mermaid? She sighed. "Okay, just for a minute."

She went back, being careful where she wasn't seen. She went behind a huge pile of rocks, put her umbrella down, then jumped in; rainbow light covered her for a second, turning her back into her mermaid form.

She swam out a little bit, then to the part of the shore where Umi was. She didn't want him or anyone else to see the bruise on her stomach, so when she went above the water, she didn't go past her elbows.

"M-mermaid!" Umi stammered. "Mermaid!"

"Is it really so surprising?" She asked, then she blew a kiss. "Search for me!" She went back under the water and swam away from him. _Maybe playing with humans will be fun. _She thought. _I'll have to pretend to be someone else, but it'll be fun, right? But did I really just tell someone to look for me? I guess it's something a mermaid would say-_

"There you are, mermaid princess!"

Orabelle turned to see the purple-eyed woman from the other day, the one who destroyed her home. She started to swim away, but seaweed wrapped around her, keeping her in place.

"Do you have any idea how much trouble I'm in because you got away?" She asked, flipping her hair. "But I've got you now, and you aren't getting away!"

…….

Rose Shinju was on her way home to get her roller skates. Sure, it was a bit dangerous to skate in the rain, there was a high chance she'd get wet and probably fall, but where's the fun in safe things? Bruises will fade and scrapes will heal.

She found herself skipping past the beach. Why she was skipping, she didn't know. She decided to wonder about that later, because something else had her attention, bringing her to a stop.

_Why is my shell shinning?_

She had a feeling that a mermaid princess was in trouble. She didn't know where she was or who she was, but that she needed saving. Why else would her shell be shinning right now?

She ran down the beach to a rock pile where she couldn't be seen, then jumped into the water. Rainbow light covered her, making her clothes vanish; her hair got longer and lighter to a shade that was no doubt pink, held in pigtails by pearl & shell bands. Her legs merged together to form a pink mermaid tail with a big fin at the end, her eyes got lighter to a shade of pink, pink pearl earrings appeared in her ears, two loops of pink pearls appeared around her right wrist and above her tail, and she was wearing a pink seashell bra. _I wonder if it's the same mermaid from yesterday. _She though.

It wasn't hard to find the princess, unless people who have mermaids tied in seaweed is a normal thing. And just as she thought, it was the yellow mermaid she had saved yesterday. What were the chances of another mermaid being in Japan, anyway?

The person who has the mermaid in trouble was short; she had honey-brown hair, and a short light-blue outfit that didn't cover very much. _I bet she gets rude comments about that. It's skanky._

"Hey, badly dressed!" She called out. The brown-haired girl turned, her purple eyes starring daggers at Rose.

"Am not!" She yelled back. "The name's Layla, I'm guessing yours is Miss No Manners?"

"Let me ponder that though for a second." Rose replied. She put a finger on her chin and looked up, pretending to think. "Nope, sorry, you're wrong. While I may be rude, my name is Rose. It also starts with an 'R'."

"Well then, _Rose, _take that!" Layla yelled. Seaweed shot up from the ocean floor.

"Look out!" Orabelle exclaimed, struggling with her own seaweed. She would have been happy to see the other mermaid, but you know, it's hard to think of anything else when your ropes are getting tighter and you can't breathe. All you can think about is escaping.

Rose dodged the green ropes, then called out, "Pink pearl voice!"

Rainbow light covered her, transforming her into her idol self. When she finished, she was standing in a bubble of light, the Live Stage, holding a blue and white microphone with her pearl in the middle.

"Capturing mermaids in unforgivable, dumbass!"

"Ugh, someone needs to shut your bratty mouth up!" Layla exclaimed. More seaweed shot up from the ground, but it bounced off her bubble.

Rose shook her head. _Why are sea demons so stupid? _"Pichi Pichi Voice Live Start!"

Music filled the water as she put the microphone to her lips and began to sing.

"Nanairo no kaze ni fukarete tooi misaki wo mezashiteta

"Yoake mae kikoeta MERODI

"Sore wa totemo natsukashii uta"

Orabelle watched in amazement. Was this girl REALLY a mermaid? And how did she do that, how was singing going to save her, how did she find her, why does she remember hearing this song? Questions filled her head. One stood out the most; how is Rose's singing hurting her capturer?

"Higashi no sora e to habataku toritachi

"Saa, takarajima ni nukeru chikamichi"

_I swear I've seen this girl,_ Orabelle though. _She looks so familiar...what did she say earlier? I should have been paying attention!_ She was too lost in her thoughts to realize that her seaweed bonds had loosened or that Layla was clutching her head in pain. She just watched the pink-clad girl sing, also failing to realize that she was no longer tied up.

"Nanatsu no umi no rakuen

"Arashi no yoru no ato ni wa ai wo tsutaerutame inochi ga mata umareru

"Nanatsu no kuni no MERODIA

"Daremo ga itsuka wa koko wo tabidatsu hi ga kitemo

"Watashi wa wasurenai~"

The music cut off and she stopped singing, then pointed at Layla and said "Sugar Shine Pitch! How about an encore?"

"No!" Layla screamed. "Your singing sucks!" She vanished in a swirl of water and bubbles, leaving Orabelle behind.

"Bitch." Rose mumbled to herself. She sighed, then looked at Orabelle. "You really are trouble, aren't you?"

"M-me?" Orabelle stammered, somewhat surprised. "How am I trouble?"

Rose's bubble faded away. "Well, that's twice I've had to save you."

"What do you mean? That was only once!"

"Counting yesterday, that's twice," Rose replied, crossing her arms. "Granted, you were asleep I think, but it still counts. One plus one equals two, two plus two equals fish. Math is a tricky subject, but worry not, you'll get it."

"Oh, so that's how I got in the water." Orabelle said, completely absent-minded. She snapped out of it. "Wait a second! Two plus two doesn't equal fish!"

"I was being sarcastic." Rose rolled her eyes.

Orabelle wasn't paying attention. "You know, I swear you look familiar. You also _sound _familiar..."

"I could say the same about you, but I'm pretty sure I've never seen you."

""What did you say your name was? I wasn't paying attention, due to the whole being tied-up thing."

"Rose, Rose Shinju. The last name is just made up, 'cause you know, mermaids don't have last names. What's yours?"

"WOOHOO!" Orabelle threw her arms up above her head. "This is great! Hello, my north-Pacific counterpart!"

"Um, have you gone crazy or something?" Rose asked, cringing a little. Overly excited people annoy her to the point of snapping and yelling at them.

"Don't you recognize me, Rosie?" Orabelle asked, winking at the mention of Rose's nick-name. She wasn't sure how many people have called her Rosie before she did, but if she really did look familiar to Rose, she'd know who she is.

…….

CLIFF HANGER~ HANGING OFF A CLIIIIIFF!

THAT'S WHY HE'S CALLED CLIFF HANGER!

Um yeah, you get a cookie if you know what that was a reference too XD I swear, I make too many references to everything.

Click the button!

V


	5. Shut Up And Wait A Second

Durp, I write these chapters fast ;D I'm currently making pictures of the princesses, so if you reeeaaalllllly want visual aids for imagining them, let me know. 'cause I was going to wait until I had the site up. Actually, I already have a picture of idol Rose on my dA, so if you REALLY want to see it, my username is Super-Chan.

…….

"Belle?" Rose exclaimed. "You're a mermaid? I knew you weren't from where you said you were! Why didn't you tell me?"

Orabelle smacked her forehead. "I didn't know you, I didn't know you were a mermaid princess, am I supposed to tell random strangers I'm a mermaid?"

"Crap. Well, my brain drew a blank moment." Rose replied, whacking her own forehead.

"Besides, I really don't want to be bubbles."

"Does anyone really?" In another flash of rainbow light, Rose turned back into her mermaid form.

"Oh yeah! How do you do that?"" Orabelle asked excitedly. "You know, the magical singer girl thing?"

"What do you mean?" Rose wondered. "All mermaid princesses can do that."

"I never have," Orabelle said, jealous of Rose's power. "I mean, if I could, I would know it, right?"

The pink mermaid sighed. "Don't be stupid, just because you don't know how doesn't mean you can't. You might not today or tomorrow, but you will at some point."

"Well, hopefully."

"Hey now, don't pull that emo teen bullcrap and think you're defective. You're just like all the other princesses, you have the power of your pearl. Have you even tried to transform?"

Orabelle smiled. "Your right!" She launched herself forward and hugged Rose.

"Sure, deflect." Rose mumbled. Orabelle wasn't paying attention, so she didn't hear her.

_She's right; I can turn into one of those idol singers too! But how will I do that? I guess it doesn't matter, as long as I can-_

"Um, Belle?" Rose said, breaking Orabelle from her thoughts.

"Yes?"

"Personal space."

"Oh, right!" Orabelle let go of Rose."Sorry, I get lost in my thoughts."

"What were you doing out here, anyway?" She asked.

The yellow mermaid's face turned slightly red. Ooh, was she going to be in trouble if she told Rose she was messing with humans by playing mystery mermaid. From what she'd already seen of her personality and attitude, she was surely going to yell at her. "Nothing."

She sighed. "Well if you won't tell me, then can I ask why your stomach is bruised?"

"I got caught in the rain yesterday," Orabelle said, recalling what had happened the day before. "And I got soaked, and I turned into a mermaid and fell down, then pulled myself forward three blocks to the beach."

"That would explain why those look ragged up," Rose replied, gesturing to Orabelle's hands. "I hope they don't get infected, 'cause they'll hurt like Hell."

"Yeah," She looked at her hands. "Maybe I should wear gloves when I wait- Oh wait! I need to get home!" She started swimming to the ocean surface, Rose tagging along behind her and asking why she was in a rush. Of course, Orabelle's mind train of thought was so loud she didn't hear her.

They both broke the surface of the water, up at the shore and next to the rock pile. They climbed out, shaking as much water as they could off, and turned back into humans. Orabelle grabbed her umbrella.

"Would you like to come with me?" She asked Rose.

"Thanks for asking, it saves me the trouble of following you." Rose said, smirking.

Orabelle smiled. "Was that supposed to sound creepy?"

"Maybe, I don't kno- Whoa!" Orabelle had grabbed her hand and started running, sort of dragging Rose, before she could finish what she was saying. She started running too, and in minutes they were at the café. "I thought you said 'home', not 'sugar joint'."

"Oh, just be quiet and wait a minute." Orabelle replied, opening the door. She took a second to look at the room again. She really did love how it looked.

"Um, dude, seriously, what are we doing here?" Rose asked, more than a little confused. _What the hell is she doing?_

She didn't answer, instead walking into the room. Rose followed behind her as she walked over to the bathrooms and opened a door that said 'employees only' on it. They went up the stairs and through another door, into what could probably only be described as an upstairs apartment. "Where would you like to see first?" She asked.

"So wait a second, you _live_ here?" Rose asked. She meant it as a question, but it sounded more like a statement. "Then who the hell owns the place downstairs?"

"Alice does. She's my legal guardian while I'm on land," Orabelle replied. "Please don't ask me how that works, I've only been here two days."

"I See." They both started walking up the hall.

"My home was attacked two days before I was supposed to leave and come here," She said sadly as they walked. "So I was actually supposed to show up tomorrow." They stopped at Orabelle's room and went in.

"It's so empty and white in here that I think my eyes are burning." Rose said, rubbing her eyes. Why was it so bright in there?

Orabelle dropped her umbrella next to the desk and sat down on her bed, putting her hands down on her yellow & white polka dot and stripe blanket. "And this is my room. Why are you on land?"

Rose sighed. "You're too trusting. We pretty much only just met and you're already talking like we're best friends."

"Well, you're the only other princess I've met," Orabelle replied. "I'm supposed to trust you, I think. And in my defense, I haven't been on land long enough to know when to not be. Humans and mermaids are really different."

"Fair enough." Rose replied. She sat down next to Orabelle. "Two and a half years ago, I went to land somewhere in America, called Virginia. I stayed in an apartment building full of marines and Navy sailors, who were pretty cool, by the way. My reason for going was because I wanted to learn about human things. Two of the best things I learned were one, all ten cuss words, there's twelve if you're a sailor, and two, how to play the piano."

"Why anyone would want to learn cuss words is beyond me." Orabelle commented.

"I caught a horrible case of sailor's mouth around those sailor guys, it's really hard to stop cussing after you start. Anyway, I made sure to go back home for my coming of age ceremony at thirteen, and I left land and went back home on my fourteenth birthday. I left a week later, because our resident fortune-teller saw evil brewing in the sea. I went to Japan, because she said that a mermaid princess was already there, and another one was going to show up soon. A month later, I ran into you, and that's about it."

"So, what do you remember most about America?" Orabelle asked.

Rose got up and lifted her hands up, spacing them out about a foot. "Five, five dollar, five dollar foot long!" She sang.

"Oh god, stop singing!" She laughed.

"I swear, if aliens came to America and left remembering one thing, it'd be that damn song." Rose said, putting her hands back down.

"One more thing, why did you go to America if your kingdom is closer to Japan?"

"Well, Japan is always using English words in everything, so I figured I'd go see what made it so great." She said, sitting back down.

"Hey Bell, are you up here?" Alice called from down the hall. "'cause I really need help, a whole bus of people just showed up out of nowhere!"

"Yeah, I'm here, Alice. Let me get my work uniform on." Orabelle called back.

"It's in the dryer, I washed it last night." She replied. "I'll see you down there!"

Orabelle got up. "Well, work calls." She said to Rose. "You're welcome to stay here if you want, or you could come downstairs with me and mooch sweets."

"That depends, am I actually aloud to mooch sweets?" Rose asked, laughing.

"Yes. Give me a minute, I need to get dressed." She said before walking out the door to the laundry room. She opened the dryer and pulled out the yellow and light-yellow-striped dress and white apron. She undressed, leaving her school uniform on top of the washer, then pulled the dress on over her head. She put the apron on, tying it in the back as she returned to her room.

"Wow," Rose said when Orabelle walked back in. "That's about as yellow as yellow can get. What's with the bow?"

"I don't know, that's just how it is." She replied. "Ready to go downstairs?"

"Yup." Rose said as she got up. They both left the room and went back downstairs and into the kitchen, where Alice was loading up a silver tray with ramekins and plates. Her uniform looked nothing like Orabelle's; she was wearing a pair of black slacks, a black shirt and a dark red button-up vest with a name-tag that said 'Tsuki Alice' on it. Her blonde hair was in a ponytail today, instead of just hanging down like it was yesterday. Her bangs would still get in her face, though.

"Hold on, I'll load you up a try with table numbers." Alice said, not looking up. When she did, she stared at Rose. "Who's that?" She asked.

"Why does everyone keep asking me name?" Rose wondered aloud. "It's Rose Shinju."

"She's the pink mermaid princess." Orabelle said happily. Rose quickly covered her mouth.

"Do you want me to turn into bubbles?" She whispered. She looked over at Alice. "She's kidding, I'm a human."

"It's okay, Oujo-sama," Alice said, taking a bow. "I'm a mermaid too, and it's very nice to meet you!"

Rose took her hands off Orabelle's mouth. "Sorry about that." She said. She turned to Alice. "It's very nice to meet you too!"

"I'd love to talk to you, Rose-Oujo, but I've got to take trays out." Alice said, smiling. "But when I'm not busy, I'd love to talk."

"It's okay," Rose said. "I'll be around."

Alice loaded up another tray with a few drinks and more ramekins. "We're going to table 26 with these." She said to Orabelle. Alice handed her the tray with the plates on it, then grabbed the one with the drinks on it.

"We'll be back." Orabelle said to Rose as they walked out the doors. Rose watched them go out the doors, when she spotted a large stage in one corner of the room, where a big black piano sat at the edge of it. _Maybe I could play that sometime..._ She thought.

Orabelle followed Alice to table 26. It was one of the larger tables, which would be why they had two trays. Alice set her tray down and started giving drinks to people. Orabelle went to the other side. "Who ordered what?" She asked. The people sitting at the table answered as she lifted ramekins and plates. Alice emptied her tray, and they both went back to the kitchen.

Something that sounded like a doorbell went off in the kitchen. It was the service bell at the café entrance that customers pushed if the hostess or waiters weren't there.

"I'll get it." Orabelle said, leaving the kitchen.

"So, um, is there anything I can do to help?" Rose asked Alice as she went over to the stove to shut off a pot of some cream-like boiling liquid. "Because I actually don't have anything to do for the rest of the day, and standing around doing nothing makes me feel useless."

"You princesses are so weird." Alice said. "I mean, a normal princess would have other people do things for her, but you mermaids want to do everything, no matter how boring it is."

"Yeah, we're weird like that." Rose replied.

…….

Later that night, after closing time and everything had been cleaned, Alice had giving the two princesses some chocolate mousse. Rose had already finished hers and was over at the piano, tuning it, and Orabelle & Alice were sitting at a near-by table.

"So, I assume you know why you're on land?" Alice asked, putting her spoon in her own mousse.

"To escape sea demons, right?" Orabelle replied, licking her own spoon.

"That's only half the story."

Neither of them had noticed that Rose had finished tuning the piano until she started playing something that sounded like that song she had sung to save Orabelle, Legend of mermaid.

"There's evil bigger than the sea demons," Rose said as she played, not looking up. The two yellow mermaids looked over to her. "Someone's trying to take over the sea, and to do it, they need our pearls. Whoever he or she or it is, they've captured the sea goddess, Aqua Marina, but they can't use her full powers without the pearls, because after all, she created them to keep the sea safe. And they can't use the pearls without the mermaids, because even if they just stole the pearls, we'd die without them unless we draw power from the sea goddess or have them near. You know how mermaids turn into bubbles or sea foam, whatever you want to call it? It's gruesome and painful, and I'm pretty sure no one wants that to happen. So there are a lot of reasons we need to stop the big bad, but we can't do it without the other five mermaids. I still haven't found the one that was already here before you."

"How do you know all this?" Alice asked in surprise. "I only knew a third of that!"

Rose stopped playing. "The fortune teller at my kingdom. And you-" she pointed to Orabelle. "-need to learn how to transform. We can't wait until you get captured again, so get up here."

Orabelle stood up and pushed her chair in, then arrived on the stage with Rose. Alice didn't know what she was talking about, so she just watched.

Rose got up and went over to Orabelle. "You've seen how I transform, right?"

"I think I did." Orabelle replied.

"Copy me, okay? But say 'yellow' instead of 'pink'."

"Got it."

Rose put one of her hands in the air. "Pink pearl voice!" She called out, transforming her into her idol self with a blue and white microphone that had her pink pearl in the middle.

"I was going to say this earlier, but I couldn't, so I'll say it now: You're so cute!"

"Oh, shut up and transform." Rose ordered, blushing.

"Okay." Orabelle said. "Not sure how I do this, but...Yellow pearl voice!"

The yellow shell locket around her neck opened and her yellow pearl flew out of it. It covered in yellow light, a shockwave-like ring of light came off of it, then it turned into a blue & white microphone. A rainbow light covered Orabelle, making her eyes and hair the same shade of yellow that they were in her mermaid form. Her hair grew longer, with the two yellow pearl holders in the middle and her big yellow hoop earrings. A dress appeared on her, with a cream-colored yellow skirt connected to a lighter yellow tube-top and a golden yellow swirled belt at the top, with two spaghetti straps of the same yellow. Ruffled yellow gloves appeared on her hands with pearl bracelet-like straps around her wrists, and flip-flop-like sandals on her feet, with strings of yellow pearls tied half-way up her legs. She grabbed the microphone with her pearl in the middle, and then spun around once.

"See, I TOLD you!" Rose exclaimed.

Orabelle looked over her costume and smiled. "I'm so cuuuute!" She gushed.

"You're both cute!" Alice said, clapping. "I heard the mermaid princesses have a special power, but how does it work?"

"These microphones," Rose said, showing hers off. "They're called e-pitches. You know how mermaids like to sing?"

"I do!" Orabelle said excitedly.

"Well, our singing is magical. Don't ask me how that works."

"So I use this thing to project my singing voice?" Orabelle asked into her e-pitch. "...what kind of power is singing, anyway?"

Rose sighed. "I don't know, it just works. Plus, it's fun watching people who piss you off writhe in pain."

"Oh yeah!" Orabelle yelled, jumping up and down. "I can't wait to start kicking evil butt!"

"I guess it's true. Yellow IS joyful."

"I don't think it would matter if she's yellow," Alice said. "I think she'd still be joyful, no matter what color she was. I'm guessing all you princesses are color-coded?"

"Yeah, I don't know why, you'd have to ask Aqua Marina." Rose said. She transformed back into her human form. "Think you know how to turn back into a human?" She asked Orabelle.

"It's just like going from mermaid, right?" She asked. Before Rose could answer, Orabelle was already a human again, her microphone vanishing.

Alice smiled, then looked at the clock above the kitchen doors. "You guys need to get to bed soon, you've got school tomorrow and it's late."

…….

Durp, keep on reviewing, please~ I plan on having another princess show up in the next few chapters, I think you already know who she is. I was stupid enough to mention her earlier.

Dis button right here, click it~

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	6. The Pool Isn't Empty Anymore

Durp, Yay an update~ And one day to my birthday! YAAAY~

Oh and Mo12341234, sorry, Aqua Marina isn't Lucia ^^; I thought of that and wanted to use it, but if it was Lucia, the other mermaids would still be around. And well, there's only one princess pearl per kingdom, so unless they give up their pearls for another princess like Sara did, they would still be the princesses until they died. The only other mermaid that could be added would be a pink one, considering the fact that it's now Aqua Lucia, not Princess Lucia, and you can't be sea goddess and princess at the same time.

....Yes, I've done a lot of research on this ^^; Plus, I have the manga to help. I'll shut up now.

…….

"You're in so much troubbbllleee!" The black-haired sea demon said, sticking her tongue out at a very pissed Layla. "You let the mermaid princesses get away!"

"Hey!" Layla yelled back. "You have no room to talk, you let them get away yesterday, dumbass!"

"Oh, screw you!" Amber said.

"What are you people bitching about?" Someone asked. A short blonde girl walked in, wearing a pair of pajamas. She was dragging a blanket and rubbing her eye. "You've already woke me up, so you might as well tell me."

"It's none of your business!" The two yelled together at the tired blonde girl.

"So you lost the mermaid princess again, then?" She asked.

"That would be 'princesses'!" Layla said. "The yellow and pink ones are together, and their damn singing hurts like Hell!"

"Ugh, the pink one did that to me when I had the yellow one," Amber said. "Damn brats. And the worst part is, we can't block out the singing."

"Yeah, normal earplugs aren't going to work," Layla added. "We also only know what general area they're in, so we're screwed _and_ in trouble!"

"You two are idiots." The blonde girl said.

"No, little brats named 'Sandy' are." Layla shot back.

"I agree!" Amber said.

The blonde girl shook her head. "At least my name doesn't sound like a stripper name. Now anyway, how old do the fishies look?"

"Ugh, younger than you," Amber said. "No doubt."

"Well then, use your head," Sandy said. "If they're younger than me, they must be teenagers. And they sure aren't staying in the water, so they must be on land. Now, if you're a teenager on land, you damn sure have to go to school to keep a human cover. And since they're mermaids, it's probably near the water. So there you go, I don't know where they're staying, but you now have an idea as to where they are. Now can I go back to sleep?"

"How the Hell would you know that?" Layla asked.

"I used to live on land, dummies." Sandy said. She then left the room to return to sleep.

Amber sighed. "I don't like that brat."

"Neither do I." Layla said. "Just when someone gets pissed off, she has to go and make it worse because _obviously_, she knows everything!"

"Yeah, but it's not like she can stop mermaids." Amber said. "Tomorrow, both of us, at their school. If they have trouble with one of us, then there's no way they can get away from both of us!"

…….

Orabelle yawned. She didn't get much sleep that night, because she was too excited about her newfound power.

"Ugh, your hair is a mess." She said to herself as she looked at the bathroom mirror. She grabbed the comb off the sink and started running it through her reddish-brown locks, removing all the tangles and knots. She put the comb down and tied the sail-style front of her school uniform into a bow, then went downstairs and out the doors.

It was cloudy, but it sure didn't look like it would rain. She started walking to school, with Rose meeting up with her half-way there.

"Heeyy there yellow Belle." Rose greeted.

"You know, that just happens to be my favorite flower." She replied.

"You mean Yellow Bells? Well, I dare you to guess mine. It's not like it's my name or anything."

"Pft, roses-AH!" She tripped, landing on her right knee. "Ouch!"

Rose helped her up. "Okay, I know it's only been two days, almost three, but I've got a question: Have you gone clothes shopping yet?" She asked.

"No, why?"

"Because I just learned that you're going commando. Don't trip again, unless you want people to see your new human butt. And FYI, that's bad."

"Oh, great," She said as she pulled at her skirt, her face turning as red as the bow on her shirt. "I wish I knew about that!"

"Trust me, there's worse ways to find out about that." She said, then sighed. "After school, we're going shopping. Make sure to bring that stuff called 'yen', because that's what humans use for money in Japan."

"Okay, got it."

They arrived at the school almost seven minutes later, Orabelle was still holding her skirt down while Rose tried not to laugh.

"If you keep holding it like that, people will start wondering what you're hiding under there!" Rose said, stifling giggles.

"They know _damn well _what I'm hiding." She replied, embarrassed. Her face was still red and she had an iron hold on her skirt.

"Oh, come on!" Rose exclaimed. "Just let it go! You weren't freaking out about it yesterday, or the day before that!"

"I'll let it go when you stop laughing at me!"

"But it's funny!"

"What's funny?" Someone with a French accent asked. A blond-haired blue-eyed boy with freckles and glasses had walked up behind them and put an arm around Rose's neck.

"Oh, get off, you big idiot," Rose said, pulling his arm off while she laughed. "I'm off-limits."

"Off-limits to half-French half-Japanese computer dorks, or to everyone?" He asked with a smile.

"Everyone." She answered.

"And who's your uncomfortable-looking red friend?" He asked, motioning to Orabelle and her scarlet face.

Orabelle let the hold on her skirt go, but her face stayed red. "Belle, this lovely idiot is Spencer Chevalier," Rose said as she grabbed both hers' and Spencer's arms. "And Spencer, this is Arella Orabelle. She's new, so don't weird her out too much. We want her to like it here, _right_?"

"Right." Spencer said. "Hello, Arella-san. You can just call me Spencer, I don't like the honorifics thing, because being called 'kun' several times a day is annoying."

"Um, okay," Orabelle said. "I'll be Orabelle. We don't use honorifics where I'm from either, so you don't have to use them."

"Where are you from?" He asked.

"I'm not actually sure exactly what land-place I'm from." She answered as they walked through the school doors. _Hopefully that didn't sound too obvious I'm not from land._

"Well, I'll see you ladies later." The blond boy said before leaving them for a different classroom.

"Bye!" They both said as he walked away. They went to their own classroom, and in no time flat, Hoshi was by their side and glaring at Rose.

"Nice hair, Shinju," She said. "Where'd you get it, the multi-colored ugly store?"

"Yeah," Rose replied sarcastically. "I wanted to get it in 'snide bitchy bitch', but unfortunately, you took the last one."

"Um, guys, stop." Orabelle said, cutting in. Neither listened to her, and she was pretty sure that they didn't even hear her.

"Ugh, what is your problem?"

"My problem? Its name is Akemi Hoshi. What's yours?"

"Guys, stop." Orabelle said again to no avail.

"It's a little brat that doesn't know how to be nice to her superiors!"

"Bring it, bitch!" Rose said, raising her hands that were already balled into fists. "I'd rather be tortured for days on end than kiss your ass like everyone else just because you consider yourself popular!"

"Damn it, I said stop!" Orabelle said yet again, still with no response.

"Hey, she said to stop it!" A boy said as he walked into the room. Just like last time, it was Umi. And just like last time, they listen to him.

"Ugh, whatever, Hibiki-san!" Hoshi said, right before storming off to her desk. Mio and Aya walked in behind Umi, taking their seats next to Hoshi as she grumbled horrible things about Rose.

"In my defense, all I did was walk in the room." Rose said to Umi. "If you want to tell me I'm being a bitch for that, go ahead, I don't care."

"I'm not going to do that," Umi said. "But fighting is still wrong. Could you sit down?"

"Oh, fine." She said before taking her seat somewhere in the back of the room, behind some kid that was asleep on his desk.

Umi sighed. "I'm sorry, Arella-san. First they fight with you in the middle, then I end up yelling at you, then they fight again with you in the middle, and I don't know what's between that. It's only been a few days, and it really does sound like the time you've spent in Japan sucks. Even worse, it's been at this school and partly my fault-"

"You don't have to apologize," Orabelle said. "What's happened has happened, and there's nothing anyone can do about it. I learned that a few days ago and I'm not going to whine about it."

"Wow," Umi said. "You just made yourself sound way more mature than yesterday when you flicked water on me."

"That was your own fault." She replied with a smile.

After their first class, they had time in the music room. Orabelle was very careful with the harp, to the point of almost not touching it. Apparently, there are very few harps in Japan, and she didn't want to break it.

One of the teachers didn't show up, so they had a free hour to do with what they wanted. At the end of the empty hour, several minutes before the next class, Orabelle's and Rose's pearl necklaces had started shining, leaving them very perplexed. There wasn't another mermaid princess at their school, right? What were the chances?

"Why's my necklace shining?" Orabelle asked.

"Either a princess is in trouble or there's sea demons, come on!" Rose said, sprinting down the hall. Orabelle followed.

Their necklaces got brighter as they got closer; they were almost eye-blinding by the time they got to the swim team pool. They looked in through the window on the door, to see Layla and Amber with two of their classmates tied with ice ropes. One of them was the blue-haired Maria Geller, and the other was Spencer. The two had been unlucky enough to walk by when the sea demons arrived.

Luckily, there was no one in the hall.

"Pink pearl voice!"

"Yellow pearl voice!"

They both transformed into their heroine idol forms in a few seconds, then they burst through that door, shutting it behind them. Too bad for them a trap had been set.

"Look out, whoever you are!" Spencer yelled, but it was too late. They were buried in five feet of snow the second the door shut, leaving only their' heads uncovered.

"Ah! Ah! Cold!" Orabelle cried as the ice piled up around her legs and arms. Suddenly, short battle outfits were NOT a good idea. The cold didn't bother mermaids, because the water was always freezing, but as a human, it was rather terrible. She wished she had boots and gloves like Rose's.

"Ugh, this crap is so heavy!" Rose exclaimed, trying to pull her arms out of the snow pile._ If only I could get to my damn microphone!_ She thought.

"Hey, my snow isn't 'crap'!" Layla yelled, making a few more inches of snow fall on them.

"Bitch, would you stop doing that?" Rose asked, yelling.

"Well that isn't very nice." Amber said. She used the little ball of water in her hand to manipulate the water in the pool and stupidly dumped some of it on them, melting a bunch of the snow.

"Amber, you idiot!" Layla sneered. She was tempted to throw ice at her, but she didn't.

"Feels like I was just waterboarded." Rose mumbled to herself. She kicked the wet slurry off her feet, and Orabelle did the same.

"T-that's-s so-so cold!" Orabelle said, shivering. She tried hard to keep her teeth from chattering. "But the show must g-go on!"

A glowing sphere of light surrounded them and music started playing from nowhere. "Pichi Pichi Voice Duet Start!" Both of the mermaids said, then began to sing.

"Nanairo no kaze ni fukarete tooi misaki wo mezashiteta"

"Yoake mae," Rose sang, then let Orabelle sing the next two words by herself.

"kikoeta MERODI"

"Sore wa totemo natsukashii uta" They sang together.

"Ugh!" Amber said in disgust.

"Stop singing, you brats!" Layla added as they both covered their ears. The ice ropes that held their classmates started to melt.

"Higashi no sora e to habataku toritachi

"Saa, takarajima ni nukeru chikamichi"

_What the Hell?_ Spencer wondered as he watched the two girls sing. _Where did they come from and when did life suddenly turn into shoujo manga?_

"Nanatsu no umi no rakuen

"Arashi no yoru no ato ni wa ai wo tsutaerutame inochi ga mata umareru

"Nanatsu no kuni no MERODIA

"Daremo ga itsuka wa koko wo tabidatsu hi ga kitemo

"Watashi wa wasurenai~"

"Star Dust Pitch! How about an encore?" They both said when their song ended and the music cut off.

"NO!" Layla and Amber both yelled, and very loudly at that. They both vanished, leaving their hostages free and the mermaid princesses where they stood.

"Not to be rude," Rose started.

"But we must make our exit now!" Orabelle finished. They ran out the door, almost slipping in the water that was once snow, and into the hall. There was still no one there, leaving them clear to turn back into humans.

"We have to go see if they're okay." Orabelle said before grabbing the door handle.

"Wait!" Rose exclaimed. "Hold on a second, neither of them knows what just happened and they'll ask if we seen ourselves run out. And with that little time in between, they won't believe us when we say no. So hit pause and wait."

Ten seconds passed.

"Now?" Orabelle asked, still holding the door knob.

"Now." Rose said. They walked back into the pool room to see Spencer and Maria shivering and a bit shook up. Oddly, Maria seemed more shook up than Spencer. And she was sitting by the edge of the pool. "Hey Spence, what are you doing? It's just about time for class."

"And why's this place soaked?" Orabelle asked, playing dumb with Rose as she stepped in a puddle of water. "Oh, hello! I'm Arella Orabelle." She said to Maria.

"Geller Maria." Maria said, shivering.

"I have no idea what just happened..." Spencer said, shivering also. "Did you see anyone run out of here?"

"Nope," Rose replied. "Hall's empty."

"Like the pool." Orabelle added.

"Why, what's up?"

"I don't think you'd believe me if I told you," Spencer said. "Plus, I don't even know. Things like that aren't supposed to be real..."

Orabelle mentally sighed. Her new friend doesn't believe in magic and mermaids. Reasonable, but its hard hearing that someone doesn't believe in you. "Why are you two shaking?" She asked.

"Like I said."

Maria went to say something, but sneezed instead.

"Need help up?" Orabelle asked, going over to her. Rose followed, and they helped her to her feet. Maria lost her footing and slipped, bringing all three of them into the pool.

In a flash of rainbow light, disaster struck. As the two mermaids awaited their bubbly painful death, they were left surprised.

"Rose, the pool isn't empty anymore."

…….

PFFFT LMAO did I really type 'bubbly painful death'? That's just wrong. And I based the duet part(the order they sang in) on episode 3 of Pitch when Lucia and Hanon do a duet. Soyeah~

I know what I'm going to have happen next, but I'm open for suggestions. I could use some ideas; I haven't really slept for three days so my imagination is fried for now. Fried like my big sister's cooking. Oh ew D:

Erm, click the button please :D

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	7. So Very Soaked

I'M BAA-AAAACK~ So that hard drive is dead and my SW stuff is gone for good. OH DISPAIR! Well anyway, I wrote this up to replace the chapter 7 I already made. It's pretty good I think~

Which reminds me, I should show reference pictures of Orabelle and Maria and Rose's human-form at some point. The base I was using to make my reference pictures, a base I made from scratch, was also on that hard drive, so I can't make any more besides those three, because I already had them finished Dx Okay, enough of me.

…….

"I think I noticed that, Belle." Rose replied, no longer cold from the snow. She was more shocked than she should have been at the sight of the pool.

One mermaid, two mermaids, _three_ mermaids! There should have only been two, but the dark-blue haired Maria Geller had been keeping a secret.

Her pale dark hair was now four feet longer and several shades lighter to an almost grey sky-blue, her reddish-brown eyes were a light indigo, and she was no longer wearing the school uniform and white boots; She had an indigo tail and seashell bra, with two loops of almost-white pearls around the base of her tail and around her right wrist, indigo pearl earrings with dangling shells that were the same almost-white blue, the swirled belt that connected her tail to her torso was almost-white, and the little pale-pink hairclip holding her hair back was a band of almost-white pearls. She may clearly look like a princess, but something was a bit off…

"But it's time to focus on the bigger issue." She continued. "A human's seen us!"

"Oh Hell," Orabelle said, her voice cracking. "Is there anything anyone wants to say before we turn into sea foam?"

"Other than the obvious 'I'm too young to die', Spencer, your hobby of making anime costumes is weird and creepy on some level!" Rose said, tears welling in her eyes. _No, no matter what happens, you are NOT going to cry!_ She thought.

"I think I'd be mad that you said that if someone didn't mention you were about to die!"

"I don't want to die!" Maria cried. "I don't even know what's going on!"

Orabelle didn't say anything; instead she started crying hysterically, Maria following her. Rose compulsively wiped her face to make absolutely sure that no one could see a tear, instead drops of pool water.

"I have no idea what to say," Spencer said, confused. "Other than 'oh my god, MERMAIDS'!"

"Very helpful." Rose replied, ready to smack herself. _Damn it, NO CRYING!_

"Well, sorry I have no clue what to say!"

No one said anything after that. Nothing until Rose realized something.

"Hey, criers," She said, trying to dry her eyes with her wet hands. "Aren't we supposed to turn into bubbles immediately?"

Orabelle's emotions flipped like a switch and she stopped crying. "Oh god, this is embarrassing. Um, I think so."

"I wouldn't know." Maria said, also trying to dry her own eyes. "I don't even know what's going on!"

"Okay, Belle, ignore the confused girl for a second and help me think, and I mean _REALLY_ think." Rose grabbed the yellow mermaid's shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes with no idea why she did so, other than it looked dramatic. "Did anyone say ANYTHING about bubbles before you left?"

"Um…um…ugh, think!" She said to herself. "I remember just being told that revealing myself to a human would turn me into bubbles, but I don't remember being told when it would happen! I guess one would assume that it would be straight after, I really don't know!"

Rose let her go. "So either we're going to turn into bloody sea foam in a few seconds from now, or tomorrow, or we aren't going to at all. So…not in a few seconds."

"Maybe just optimism here," Spencer said, trying not to look as confused and surprised as he really was. "But maybe you just won't?"

Rose swam over to the end of the pool that was closest to the blond boy. "First off, um, surprise, I'm a mermaid. I saved you a few minutes ago, and um…important things, mention the important things. Okay! Um, stop saying um. Um, d'oh! Okay, I'm half fish, I'm pink, I'm a princess, and I'm magical. So is Orabelle, only yellow. And Maria, whatever shade of blue she may be. Any questions?"

"Magical…princess?"

"I know it's a lot to comprehend, but please spit out something coherent."

"Hey Rose, are you sure you should be telling him?" Orabelle asked, hoping she wouldn't suddenly turn into bubbles or foam or whichever other names it had.

"Well, we're already busted, so…"

"…I'm not a princess."

Everyone looked over to the side of the pool that the indigo mermaid was floating in, who herself looked quite perplexed.

"What are you talking about?" Rose and Orabelle asked at the same time.

"I'm not a princess. Why would you say I'm a princess?"

"No need to get over emotional…" Rose commented, confused.

"I've never been a princess!" Maria continued. "I think I would know if I were a princess!"

"Yes, I think we heard…"

"I'm confused." Orabelle said, putting her hands on her head. "Clearly, Maria is a princess, but she says she isn't, and we've got a human who's seen us and we should have turned into bubbles, but we didn't. What's going on?"

"We'll figure it out." Rose replied. "Hey Spencer, we need to get out of here before someone walks in and sees us. We need towels, can you get them?"

"Yeah, hold on." He said. He left the side of the pool and went to the locker rooms and out of sight.

"Figure what out?" Maria asked. "I'm just a mermaid, not a princess or anything."

"What are you talking about? Look at us, then look at yourself." Rose said, annoyed. "Notice how we have the same style in everything? Normal mermaids look different and they don't have as much jewelry."

"Hey, I have a question." Orabelle cut in. She grabbed her own shell pendant and looked at Maria. "Where's your pearl necklace?"

She looked down. "What pearl necklace?"

Orabelle looked at Rose with a blank expression. "I think we have a problem."

"_A_ problem?" She replied.

"Sorry, _another_ problem. 'A', as in 'another'. Better?"

Rose rolled her eyes. "Careful honey, sass makes girls fat."

"…_What?"_

"I've got towels!" Spencer exclaimed, walking back into the room with a stack of fluffy white towels. He made it a little past half-way to the pool before he slipped in a puddle, sending the towels and himself to the floor and his glasses into the water.

"Are you okay?" Rose asked, swimming to the edge of the pool that was closest to her fallen friend.

"I'm fine." He coughed out. "Just crushed my lungs, nothing too serious. Oh, and I can't see."

Rose sighed. The poor boy was really myopic, but if it wasn't for that, they probably would never have met.

Maria swam past Rose, climbed out of the pool and pulled on the ground to get over to Spencer. She had his geeky black glasses. She stopped pulling herself forward when she realized their faces were less than five inches apart.

"You dropped this." She said, handing over his glasses. She sat up and grabbed a nearby towel off the floor. _Stupid, stupid Maria!_ She thought as she scrubbed the water off her tail. _Don't do that to people!_

Orabelle and Rose pulled themselves out of the pool and grabbed towels off the floor. Spencer got back up to his feet and put his glasses on, not sure of what to make of the scene. Three half-naked, very attractive, color-coded mermaid princesses were drying off on the floor of the swim team's pool. Not exactly something you see every day.

"You seem to be taking this all rather well." Rose said as she dried her hair. It slowly turned from light pink to a reddish amaranth and her eyes changed from a bright cerise to a brownish shade of pink.

"I think that's because I don't know how to react." He replied, scratching the back of his neck.

Orabelle was the first one to dry enough to change back into her human form and poked Spencer's shoulder; he hadn't been paying attention to her, so he was startled.

"I know this is obvious," She said, folding the wet towel in her hands. "But you can't tell anyone. That wouldn't end well."

"Yeah Spence," Rose added in as her hair shortened by several feet. "Probably the only time I'm ever going to say this, but if you tell anyone, I'll have to beat the crap out of you."

"Why would I tell anyone?" Spencer asked, slightly taken aback by Rose. Of course he knew she talked like that to everyone, but would she _really_ throw a punch at him? "I'm not stupid…"

"Of course you aren't." She replied. Her pink tail turned into a pair of legs and she was once again wearing her human clothes. She stood up and playfully draped herself over the blond boy. "But still. Can't take any chances. Do you know how many people would love to see a real mermaid, and how many more would love to shove her in an aquarium tank?"

Orabelle ignored their talk, put the towel on the floor and went over to Maria, who was already in human form again, sitting on the floor.

"You're really quiet." She said, looking down at the girl. She looked like she was ready to cry.

"I know." She replied, staring at the floor.

"Sooo…is there anything you would like to say, Princess Maria?"

She looked up, her face slightly red. "I can't be a princess, why do you two keep insisting I am?"

"Oh, sure you are." Orabelle replied, offering the aiiro mermaid princess a hand. "Just because you didn't know it doesn't mean you aren't."

Maria took her hand and got to her feet without saying a word, so Orabelle continued.

"But we'll deal with all that later. For now, please tell me you know where your pearl is. It should be in a necklace just like mine, only your shade of blue."

Maria looked at the floor again. "I don't ever remember having a necklace like yours. I'd have to ask my butler, he's known me since I was little…"

"Well, that's a good start." Orabelle replied, smiling. "I know it's a lot to take in at once, but you'll get used to it."

"Hey girls," Spencer said, cutting in. "We still have class to get to."

"Shit!" Rose exclaimed, letting go of Spencer. "Late late late! You two! If anyone asks, someone locked us in the bathroom!"

"Erm, okay." Orabelle replied. She and Maria went for the door, Rose and Spencer following behind.

"Never mind, scratch that, the door locks from the inside. Doesn't matter I guess…" Rose mumbled to herself.

With no one in the hall, the four hurried off to their classrooms unseen. Spencer and Maria had science together, Rose had history, and Orabelle had math.

They didn't have a bad a time explaining to the teachers; the science teacher had shown up two seconds after Spencer and Maria, Rose pulled her bathroom excuse and got off clean with only an eye-rolling, and Orabelle just walked in with no explanation asked for.

Unlucky for her, Orabelle had her seat next to Hoshi, who she still had no idea about on why she was so mean for no reason. It was a bit awkward sitting next to her after that fight earlier, but she sucked it up and kept her mouth shut, deciding not to say anything. It wasn't any of her business.

…….

The last bell sounded and Orabelle was on her way out the door. Rose's last class of the day was with Orabelle and they made plans for the shopping trip. They were both to run home, where Rose was to change and Orabelle was to grab her money, and then meet up at the beach since it was on the way to the mall. Rose said that to kill two birds with one stone, she'd drag Spencer along to answer questions.

Orabelle opened the door to her bedroom to find her work uniform and pajamas folded up neatly on her bed. _Mental note: Ask Alice why she keeps moving my clothes._ She thought. _And get something to carry your school stuff in._

She dropped her homework on the desk and picked up the untidy pile of yen notes and coins. She didn't really understand the point to money, mostly because she never had to deal with it in the mermaid world.

Unfortunately her school uniform had no pockets, so she would have to hold it the entire to. Not fun.

She left the building and made her way to the beach, which was really close, and waited for Rose and Spencer to arrive. She leaned against the concrete wall that separated the beach from the road and watched the waves. Some kind of surfing contest was going on. It didn't particularly interest her, but it was something to watch when she waited.

She briefly thought about how she could be a surfer, but scratched it off the list of possibilities due to the fact she would get wet. She couldn't help but laugh when some guy fell off his board and wiped out horribly.

"What are you giggling about?"

She turned around to see Rose, who was wearing a pair of long white jeans and a pink tank-top with a rhinestone star on it, dragging along Spencer, who was still in his school uniform.

"There's something going on at the beach and some person fell off their board." She replied.

"Oh, I see- Why are you carrying your money like that?"

"Hm? Oh! I have nothing to put it in, so it's either this way or nothing."

"Here." She took the yen from Orabelle and stuffed it in one of her pants pockets. "You need a purse or something."

"Oh, noooo!" Spencer said, a slightly terrified look on his face. "Please, not with the girly shopping trip!"

"Too bad." Rose replied, linking her arms with her school-uniformed friend and the princess as she began to walk, bringing them along. "Multi-tasking is the key. You get to ask questions and bother us through it all, so no complaining."

"Why are we even going to the mall, anyway?"

"Belle only arrived on land about three days ago. There are some important things she needs."

"Yeah." Orabelle said, holding her skirt down with her free hand.

"And don't expect me to tell you which stores we need to go to specifically." Rose continued. "Being the geek that you are, you'll just freak out and probably try to run away."

He sighed. "I feel like I should be running now."

…….

NEXT CHAPTER: Shopping for panties 8D!

Oh and now to respond/explain a few things:

Angelrider13: Thanks~ And if I told you who Umi was, it'd be ONE HUUUGE spoiler. Or is it :0? Wait and see for now. And Spencer? He's just a computer geek. Yup. Or is he? :0 Okay, I'm being stupid now.

Lunarlullaby/Misha12: First, thank you~ And I know, I just assume everyone's a Mary Sue, too, and in my defense, most of them are ^^; And blossoms will come. And thank you for the criticism, I have no idea WHY, but people never seem to give me any. I've become a better writer over the time this has been paused, so less mistake and better writing to come.

And I know it's Aqua Regina. This is a different sea goddess, 'cause if it wasn't, well than the surprises and plot wouldn't work XD

I should end this here, it's getting long. See you guys later, thanks for the reviews! Keep it up, and remember, I really do want to hear your ideas~


	8. The Other Part Of The Day

Sorry for the long wait :U I get lazy and only write when I want to. Which is a lot. But it's mostly Kuroshitsuji stuff or stuff for my other Mermaid Melody project. Yeah ^^; So this chapter will be longer. There's a bit of filler, but- snap, lost my train of thought. Derailed.

….

Maria grabbed her umbrella and scooted over the limo seat to the door. The door opened and she looked out to see her very large, and not to mention person-empty, mansion. It was surrounded by trees and other greenery with ivy and grape vines growing up the brick-red outside walls.

She opened her umbrella and stepped out, right into a puddle from yesterday's rain. Since it was dry earlier in the morning, it probably became caught in the wind and fell from the trees. She slipped, but this time when she went down, she didn't have two girls trying to catch her, but a man with defiantly strong arms, wearing a suite, who caught her before she hit the ground.

"I'm sorry." She said as the man lifted her back to her feet. She felt like crying again. _How is it a person like me is supposed royalty?_

"Sorry for what?" He asked, shutting the limo door. He smiled at her, unknowingly making her feel even worse.

"For being so clumsy." She replied, looking at the ground.

"Everyone falls once in a while and most of the time, it can't be helped. You have no control over it, so you shouldn't worry."

She put on a fake small smile. "Thank you, Shawn." She said sincerely. Twirling her umbrella, she said, "When we get inside, could I please have some tea? I'll be out back for a while."

"Sure thing, Princess."

_Princess._ Something he had called her since she was about five, around the time she really wanted to be a princess. But now that the words might have some actual meaning, she no longer wanted to be called that. But she wouldn't say anything about it.

_Why me?_

….

The trio arrived at the mall. It wasn't far from the beach, so obviously, they walked. Rose had refused to answer any questions until they went in.

"Okay, shoot." Rose said as she let go of her friends' arms. "You may now start ruining our 'girly' shopping trip."

"Isn't a crowed place like this the perfect spot to be overheard?" Orabelle asked, tossing her hair over her shoulder.

"Between all the anime, games, fanpeople, role-players and cosplayers in Japan talking about all that crap, we'll just sound like normal teenagers who are also talking about it." Rose replied.

"First question," Spencer said as Rose dragged the two over to the escalators. "Magical, really?"

"Not exactly sure how that works." Orabelle answered.

"Her answer's as good as mine." Rose said as they were taken to the second floor.

"Hm, I guess if you don't know, I have no chance at knowing…" Spencer said. He readied another question for the second round. "So…you two are really princesses?"

"Yup. There's seven of us, and we're as royal as royal brats can get."

"I'm not a brat." Orabelle mumbled, frowning.

"It's an expressive term." Rose said as she stepped off the escalator and onto the second floor of the mall. Orabelle and Spencer followed closely behind. Oddly, it was almost empty. "To save three more questions, no, singing isn't our only power, no, I have no idea why singing is our main power and yes, all mermaid princesses are beautiful color-coded fishies with more than just ass-long hair."

"Well, that saves three questions." Spencer said as they continued on. "I guess the next question would be, what was with the bubbles and dying talk earli-" He frozen, stopping mid-sentence and mid-stride.

"What is it?" Orabelle asked, not knowing what store they were in front of. It said 'Peach John' on the front in pink and the inside looked similar to a typical little girl's daydream of a castle ballroom.

"_No_." He said. "Just _no_. I am _not_ going in there."

"Oh, come on!" Rose exclaimed, grabbing onto his arm and shaking him. "It's just a clothes store!"

"It's not 'just a clothes store', it's a lingerie store! No!" He replied. "Why would you drag me here?"

"First off, not all underwear is lingerie and second, do you have any idea how gay you just made yourself sound?"

"Oh, damn it, Rose." Spencer grimaced. "Did you _really_ just have to say that?"

The duo's bickering was interrupted by Orabelle breaking out in a fit of laughter. Laughter so powerful that she was holding her stomach and leaning against a large marble plant pot that happened to be next to her. People stared, rolled their eyes and walked on, but she didn't care. Probably because she had her eyes closed and couldn't see them.

"What's so funny?" Rose asked, letting go of Spencer's arm.

"_You_ are!" She said as she tried to stop laughing. "You two are so silly!"

"Oh, who's silly?" She questioned again, grabbing Orabelle in a headlock as she ran her fist through the brown-haired girl's tresses.

'Hey, stop that!" She exclaimed. "It hurts!"

"Make no mistake, when people say Rose is a hands-on girl, they're referring to the fact that she's probably almost strangled them several times." Spencer said as he watched the two girls. Rose frowned and let go of Orabelle before putting him in the same headlock and messing up his hair.

"Your turn!"

"Rose, stop! Your nails are sharp! It hurts!"

Orabelle fell back laughing again. Truthfully, she had never seen two people act so silly. She'd never seen anyone act like that. Everyone at her kingdom just had to act so prissy like they lived in a castle. Which they did. She didn't bother to make friends with anyone, because people would act different around her as to not offend her because she was the princess. Plus, they would only nag her about her princess duties even more than her very absent advisor, probably to see what work a princess does.

Rose let go of the now very messy-haired, red-faced Spencer, whose glasses threatened to fall off the tip of his nose.

"Now back to serious matters." She said, definitely sounding like a princess for the first time in months. "We've got some important business to attend to and standing around isn't going to cover Yellow's butt!"

'Yellow' obviously referred to Orabelle. Spencer's face turned one shade darker of red as he fixed his glasses.

"Your non-discreetness is wonderful." Orabelle said with a smile, failing at sarcasm.

"I have to agree with her." Spencer added, stepping back. He could see the gears turning in Rose's head, probably trying to figure out how to do a double-noogie without growing two more arms.

Rose bit her lip. "Come on already." She said. "Clothes are clothes. Just because it's made of less fabric doesn't mean it's embarrassing."

"Fine then," Spencer replied. "I guess you wouldn't mind telling us the color of your underwear today?"

Rose linked her arm with Orabelle and started dragging her into the store. "With that, we'll be going." She said quickly.

Spencer flashed a triumphant grin as he watched the girls hurry (in Orabelle's case, drag) away. He sat on a near-by bench and waited for them.

….

Maria sat on a chair in the 'backyard'. 'Large empty green space with flowers' would have been a more accurate description, but this doesn't matter.

Now changed out of her school uniform and into a short dark-blue dress, she tried to drop everything in her mind for once. That didn't work.

Sighing, she grabbed her still-open umbrella and got up, walking out into the yard. It was still cloudy out, but it didn't matter. She couldn't go outside without her umbrella anyway.

_Could I really be a princess?_ She wondered as she walked through the yard. _I'm already a mermaid, but…how could a mermaid, much less a princess, be someone like me? I guess it could happen to anyone…I guess the first step to figuring this out is to find that necklace._ She walked over to a tree that had a swing hanging from it and sat down there. _But where would I even begin to look…?_

….

"Before you ask, which you probably won't because you don't know where and what this is, no, it is not just all lacey garments that look confusing to put on." Rose said as the two walked over to part of the store that had large mirrors and changing rooms. "There's also normal garments that look confusing to put on."

"Well, that's great to know." Orabelle replied and she watched herself twirl her skirt in the mirror. "Swishy."

Rose rolled her eyes. She grabbed Orabelle by the shoulders and turned her around to a wall of hanging undergarments. "I don't know what size you need, get shopping! And you're going to need a human bra, too! "

After several minutes of confusion and trying things on, Orabelle and Rose walked out of Peach John with a shopping bag to spot Spencer near a bench, jumping up and down while a boy much taller than him, also wearing their school's uniform, held his glasses above his head while someone else in a school uniform stood by laughing.

"Don't be pathetic! Jump higher!"

"Give me back my glasses! I can't see!"

"Jump higher then!"

"Oh, what the Hell?" Rose exclaimed as she stomped over to the boys. Orabelle followed behind, almost tripping over her feet. Mermaids will just about never be graceful when they go from fins to feet. She hoped that it wouldn't be permanent.

"I can't jump higher! Give them back!"

Being the athletically built-for-swimming teenager that she was, Rose had no trouble jumping high enough to snatch Spencer's glasses and return them. "What the Hell do you think you're doing?" She asked, directing her question to the person who stole the glasses.

The boy that was laughing stopped, and the one who took the glasses frowned. "We were just playing."

"Yeah, just playing." The other boy chimed in.

"I'm no expert," Orabelle said, recalling everything she had learned on land. "But that didn't look like playing."

"Hey, aren't you the cute new girl?"

Her face turned slightly red. _DAMN IT, you have to get used to it! Just because they aren't mermaids doesn't mean it's embarrassing, now stop acting like a sea anemone!_

"Back on topic!" Rose exclaimed. Spencer took a step back because someone was about to get on her bad side, and he really didn't want to be that person. "You didn't answer my question!"

"You're pretty when you're mad." The boy who stole Spencer's glasses said. He put a hand under Rose's chin and tilted her head up. "Any other day you're cute, but when you're mad, it's really attractive."

Rose smacked his hand away. "Touch me again and I'll break your fingers."

"Aw, seems she doesn't want to play." The other boy said. He then winked at Orabelle. "How about you, Bella?"

She frowned. "It's OraBELLE. Not 'Bella'. You don't even know me well enough to be calling me something so informal."

"We have a princess!"

"Guys, let's just go-" Spencer started to say, but the second boy pushed him back.

"What's a computer monkey like you doing by hanging out with two cute girls who are quite obviously out of your league?"

Rose smacked his hand for touching Spencer. "Touch HIM again, and I'll break YOUR fingers."

"But what if you touch me?" The first boy asked, winking.

She became livid. "Then you'll be in the hospital!"

"Aw, don't play like that." He said, grabbing Rose and pulling her close. She reacted without even thinking; her hands flew out, punching him in the face while she used her other hand to punch the second boy in the face. She quickly pulled free, grabbed Orabelle's and Spencer's hands, and ran for it.

….

"There you are, missy!"

Maria looked up to see Shawn, her butler, running up to her in a goofy way. He always attempted to make her smile and laugh.

"I wasn't hiding." She replied, scooting over where he could sit next to her.

"Really?" He asked, sitting down. "Because you seem troubled. And when you're troubled, you tend to hide."

"I'm not troubled." She lied. "Just bored."

"Really?"

"Well, I might be thinking something over…" She looked at the sky, trying to put on a bored expression.

"And what would that be?"

She bit her bottom lip. "…My old baby stuff is in the attic, right?"

"Of course, but it's a bit dusty up there. May I ask why?"

"You can always ask." She said, twirling her umbrella again. "No reason, I was just wondering."

….

"Did we lose them?" Spencer asked as the three hid in the back of a clothes store.

Orabelle fell down, panting and coughing. "I've never had to use my lungs like that before!"

"Yeah." Rose answered. She then patted Orabelle on the shoulder. "You'll be fine. It takes a little getting used to, but you'll be fine."

"Not sure I WANT to be used to it." She coughed. "But it's a good thing we got out of there, I was about to go into princess mode and tell them to leave."

"You can't do that in the human world." Rose said, wagging a finger in front of her face. "We're supposed to be humans, remember?"

"Hate to break it to you," Spencer cut in. "But you aren't actually humans."

"Thank you for the blond observation." Rose replied. "Wait, I take that back. Only dye-jobs are dumb. Probably because of the hair bleach seeping in and killing brain cells. Anyway! Let's finish this shopping trip and go."

"Okay." Orabelle coughed again, standing up.

Half an hour later the three left the mall. Rose decided to go back to the café with Orabelle, and she continued to drag Spencer along with her.

"One minute," Orabelle said to the two as she went up the stairs. "Need to go put stuff down."

"We'll be here!" Rose called back.

"…She lives here?" Spencer asked.

Rose shut the door and grabbed Spencer's hand. "C'mon! I needa go do something before she comes back!"

Orabelle dropped the bags down on her bed and dumped them out. The Peach John bag had the obvious, underwear, and the red bag that said 'Cherry Palace' had a yellow blouse, skirt and dress, a wallet, a small yellow purse, a school bag and the rest of her money. She decided to get everything in her favorite color, except for the school bag, which was brown.

She changed into her work uniform and went back downstairs as she tied the apron behind her back. Rose and Spencer weren't at the bottom like they said they would be, so she decided to check the kitchen.

"Anyone in here?" Orabelle asked, walking into the kitchen.

"Freezer!" Alice called out. It sounded like she was fumbling with boxes.

"Need any help? It sounds like you have things falling on you."

"Nope! I'm fine!"

She walked over to the door to find Alice stacking boxes, not dropping them. "Did Rose come in here?"

"The freezer? No, but she might be somewhere in the kitchen."

"Okay- EEEEP!"

Someone had snuck up behind her and grabbed her shoulders. She turned around to find Rose giggling with Spencer next to her. Only, she was dressed different; instead of the tank-top and jeans, she was wearing a uniform the same as her own, only pink.

"Surprise! We're gonna stay color-coded!"

….

Maria dug through the boxes in the attic, sending dust all throughout the room. She coughed as she pulled out baby toy after baby toy, but she wasn't going to let dust stop her.

She emptied the last box and frowned. No shell necklace out of the four boxes of baby toys. There went that idea.

She put everything back in the boxes and left the attic, coughing all the way. She tripped down the stairs, down, down, down, to be caught by the butler.

"Maria, are you alright?" He asked, lifting her up.

She coughed again. "Just peachy." She lied, rubbing her forehead.

"What were you doing in the attic?"

"Looking for something." She replied as Shawn set her back on her feet. She coughed again, and fell back, only to be caught again.

He picked her up and started down the hall. "Come on, let's get the dust off of you."

Maria sighed. "I don't want to be sick again…"

….

Later that night, after closing up and dealing with nightly business, Orabelle and Rose sat at a table in the main room while Alice swept the floor. Spencer had already left.

"Now that we aren't busy and you have time for a million questions, why didn't you tell me you were coming to work here?" Orabelle asked.

"Well, it was a surprise." Rose replied plainly. "It's no big deal, really. My last job sucked, and I asked Alice yesterday when you were out of the kitchen to work her with you. It gives us more time to work out this super-heroine stuff."

"I guess…" Orabelle said, drifting off into thought. "Before I get started on that, how did you get a uniform like mine, but in pink?"

"We're magical heroes, Belle!" Rose exclaimed, making a face. "Rule of magical girls. We're all going to work at the same place, have color-coded outfits and go to the same school. Unless this is Sailor Moon…"

"I have no idea what you are talking about." Orabelle shook her head. She had a lot to learn about the human world. "But anyway, evil in the sea. I don't know about you, but I have no experience with this kind of thing and I don't know that first thing to do. Actually, scratch that, second thing to do. We should get all the princesses together, right?"

Rose shrugged. "That's how it works in anime."

"Rose, seriously…"

Rose stood up out of her chair and walked over to Orabelle, then sat on the table. "Okay then. Let's start off with the major issue; Maria's pearl."

"Snap, I didn't think about that." Orabelle said, biting her bottom lip. "My question is, how could she have lived without it?"

"I dunno." Rose replied. "But we need to find it. We're fucked if we need all seven princesses and Maria has to sit it out. But unfortunately, I don't have a pearl radar."

She sighed. "Well, there goes that."

Rose hopped off the table and started untying her apron. "We'll talk more tomorrow; I've got homework waiting for me."

"Ah! So do I!" Orabelle exclaimed, jumping out of her chair. "I'll see you tomorrow!"

She ran upstairs, took a quick bath, put on her pajamas and grabbed her social studies homework. She was pretty sure she would fail it since she knew next to nothing about the human world, and substituted things from the mermaid world where she could.

….

So that's the end of this chapter. I'm going to have assloads of character development coming in soon.

Oh and~ Before anyone goes thinking this is the original MM with different characters, juuuust wait. It's not what you think.

And did you hear the news? The MM dub might actually be released in December, so cross your fingers!


	9. Quality Time In The Girl's Bathroom

Weeeee~ Hi again! I know it's been a while, but I write at my own pace. My ADD distracts me, and quite frankly, my memory sucks. I'm clumsy and I've hit my head a few times, so yeah.

To anyone who is squeamish about blood, proceed with caution. (Nosebleed! Yay!)

…….

The next day after checking her homework, Orabelle left for school. Maria wasn't in class today, and Rose found to her displeasure that one of the boys from the mall sat behind her in homeroom. She was not a happy camper.

"I am going to KILL that douche bag." Rose said through her teeth as she and Orabelle walked out of class.

"I'm not sure murder is the best thing for a princess to do." Orabelle replied.

Rose frowned and tried to keep from yelling. "He was bothering me all through class and saying things I would rather not repeat! I don't give a crap what anyone says, there's no combination of words that makes that behavior acceptable!"

"Careful." The yellow princess warned. "Steam too much, and you might say something you'll regret."

"Do I look like I give a crap?"

Orabelle looked intently at the expression on Rose's face. "No." She said simply with a shrug of her shoulders. Taking another step, she put her foot down too soon and her shoe kept its place on the floor, making her knee jerk. She tried to catch her balance, but failed and fell.

"Belle-!"

She hit something hard before landing on the floor, taking whatever it was with her. Her face smacked against the linoleum.

"OUCH!"

"You're telling me!"

She sat up, realizing that she had brought someone down with her as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. That someone just happened to be Umi, who had already sat up and started rubbing the back of his head.

"Are you okay?" Rose exclaimed, horrified at the sight of Orabelle's face. Her nose was bleeding.

"I think…" The yellow mermaid replied, rubbing her forehead and oblivious to the red liquid dripping from her nose and the blood that rolled down her chin.

"Um, Arella-san? I think you should see that nurse." Umi advised, slightly faint at the sight of blood.

She went from rubbing her head to pulling her hair out of her face. "Other than hitting my head, I feel fine." She replied. Rose grabbed her under her arms and pulled her to her feet.

"Your nose is bleeding like a waterfall!" She exclaimed, watching the blood drip down onto her yellow shell locket. Before Orabelle could reply, Rose grabbed her hand and sprinted to the bathroom.

"I'm what?" Orabelle asked as Rose kicked the door open and dragged her to a sink. "Hey, don't get me wet-!"

"Stop fidgeting!"

The pink princess grabbed a few paper towels and carefully wetted them from the sink, then grabbed Orabelle's nose with them.

"Whab are joo doin?"

One of the stall doors opened and out came Hoshi. She frowned at the sight of the two at the sink.

"Dear god, Shinju. What'd you do? Punch her in the face and you don't want the principle to know?"

"No, fuck you." Rose sneered, cleaning blood off of the yellow mermaid.

Hoshi rolled her eyes. "Touchy bitch."

"Popularity ass-kisser."

"Pink-haired loser."

"Snotty double-faced leech."

"Dye-job."

"Bitch tits."

Orabelle smacked Rose's hand away and stormed out of the bathroom.

"Belle, wait-!"

The door smacked shut, leaving the two girls behind as Orabelle stomped down the hall at what could probably be called cheetah speed. She squeezed her nose and started dodging people on their way to class, unsure of where she was heading. It just had to be away from those two.

_I hate it._ She though, attempting to keep an angry expression off her face. _I hate it, I hate it, I hate it. Why do they have to continuously fight? It…it's…it's petty bullshit! Ugh, it's not even my problem, why do I care-?_

"Oof!"

Getting lost in her thoughts, the yellow princess forgot to watch where she was going and had run into someone, knocking the person and herself down. She repeatedly smacked her forehead.

"Stupid! Stupid Orabelle! Stupid, stupid, stupid! Watch where you are going! You did it again, stop falling and stop knocking people down!"

"Um, Orabelle?"

She looked up to find that this time, she had knocked down Spencer. Taking a second to look around, she also found that she had run to the other side of the school, far away from where she was supposed to be.

"I'm sorry! I'm really sorry!" She exclaimed, covering her nose with one hand and pointing at Spencer's shirt with the other.

He made a face at the sight of the large amount of blood on his shirt. Looking away, he said, "You should really get that looked at."

Orabelle frowned as her eyes welled with tears when the shock wore off and pain started setting in. She bit her bottom lip in attempt to keep from screaming and crying. Nothing had every hurt so much before.

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do..." She said, feeling like she was about to start drowning in blood. "I've never had this happen before. Rose started taking care of it, but she started fighting with Hoshi-san again and I really can't stand fighting-"

She stopped mid-sentence to cough, sending drops of blood into the air and seeping through her fingers. She swayed to the side, lightheaded.

Spencer stood up and lifted Orabelle to her feet. "I have no idea how mermaid biology works, but I'm dragging you to the nurse's station."

"Thacks." She said, muffled by the red liquid. She left a drip-trail as they started done the hall, which was already empty by the time she ran into the blond boy.

"Wait, wait, wait! Stop!"

Rose came running from the right, almost falling to the side when her feet stopped while her torso was throw when her motion paused. She ran up to them, panting heavily.

"Don't, you can't do that!"

Spencer sighed and shook his head. "I'm currently in the dark, so could you tell me _why_ I'm about to stand here and let her bleed to death instead of taking her to the nurse?"

"One second." Rose said, taking a few deep breaths before continuing. "Remember when I got that paper cut three weeks back?"

"Of course I do." The blond boy replied, confused. "You bled everywhere and needed three stitches."

"Stitches for a paper cut! Mermaid blood is different. We have blood types, yeah, but it doesn't clot as well as human blood does. And if you think about it, why would it need to? There isn't really anything to get hurt on under the sea!"

"Great." Orabelle mumbled, stumbling to the side. "I guess I'll just sit over here and die."

"And if we take you to the nurse, you'll just keep bleeding, then she'll send you to the hospital, which'll take some blood for testing and shit, and they'll know you aren't human, and you'll just end up in alien testing because humans are stupid and take things apart without thinking!"

"Oh, thanks." Spencer commented.

"So! We probably need to get you out of here. Spencer, shirt!"

"…_What_?"

Rose rolled her eyes. "Oh fine." She said, grabbing the bottom of her own shirt and pulling it over her head.

"Rose, what are you DOING?"

"What?" She asked, freezing with her shirt half-way off. "She's having, to put it your way, a critical systems failure, and we need SOMETHING for all that blood-"

"Put your shirt down." He said, grabbing the bottom of her shirt and pulling it down before she could protest.

"Um, people?" Orabelle coughed, sending more blood to the floor. "This would be funny any other time, but I'm kind of leaking…"

"Right, right, bathroom."Rose replied, taking Orabelle's free hand and grabbing Spencer's arm.

"What about the blood?" The later asked, fixing his glasses as they had fallen down his face when he collided with a brown-haired girl.

"Don't worry about it."

"But if someone sees it-"

"I'll clean it up later." Rose said, her tone making it clear that the discussion is over. "Class is in, I have time."

After a minute of walking, Rose opened the girl's bathroom door and brought Orabelle back to the sink. The yellow mermaid put her head over the sink and pulled her hand away, letting the blood that had run out of room and filled the back of her throat out. It spilled out as though it was in an upside-down water bottle.

"You are going to be really loopy later." Rose said, wetting more paper towels. She shut the water off and glanced at Orabelle's sink. "Excuse me, I mean now. Or at least you should be."

"I'm not sure what it is…" Orabelle started, pausing to spit out leftover red liquid as more still spilled. "But I think I'm dizzy. Lightheaded? Um, what's the word?"

"That's the same thing." Rose replied, squeezing her nose with two of the paper towels while she used a third to clean Orabelle's locket. "I really wish you didn't run off earlier, especially because of the bleeding."

"Hey, amb I supposed to feel like vombiting?" She asked uneasily.

"Yeah, that'll happen." Rose tossed the paper towel she used to clean the locket with to the side and it landed in the trashcan. "Hey Spencer! Get in here!"

"No way!" He replied from the other side of the door. 'That's the girls' bathroom! No!"

"Damn it, get in here!" She exclaimed, Grabbing Orabelle's hand that wasn't bloodied and had her squeeze her nose with it.

"No!"

The pink-haired girl walked over to the door and opened it, dragging Spencer in by the shirt collar.

"That hurts!"

"Stop being such a baby." Rose replied. "It's just a bathroom, and you're covered in blood."

"Yeah, I've noticed. Could you stop strangling me?"

Orabelle tried not to laugh at them. Fighting freaked her out, but bickering made her laugh. She almost cracked when rose let go of Spencer's shirt and stuck her tongue out at him.

"Spence, shirt."

Spencer made a face. "Why do you keep trying to steal my shirt?"

"Look, if you're THAT uncomfortable not wearing a shirt in front of a couple mermaids, who don't wear shirts if I may add, then hide in a stall, but I have to get the blood out of your shirt. And before you go protesting, I'm female; I KNOW how to get blood out of things because-"

"You can stop right there." Spencer said, looking away as a slight pink covered his face. He stepped into one of the stalls, locked it, and threw his shirt over the door.

Rose caught the shirt and stifled a giggle. "You are such a girl." She said as she turned the water on at one of the sinks and wetted only one spot. She shut the water off and went for the bathroom door. "Be right back, I can get the blood out but first I have to go clean it up!"

"Rose, wait!"

The door shut and Rose was gone. Spencer looked over the stall door with a frown.

"Don't look ab be." Orabelle said as deadpan as she could with a shrug. "Ah didn't know she'd do dat."

Silence.

For nine seconds.

Orabelle broke out in hysterical laughter, leaning against the wall and grabbing at the sink to keep from falling. Her back slipped down the wall and she slowly sat on the floor as tears welled in her eyes and slipped down her face.

"Are you sure you didn't lose too much blood?" Spencer asked, unsure if he should hide until she stops or drag her to the nurse for psychiatric testing.

She continued to laugh. After two minutes of giggles and barely being able to breath, Rose came back, freezing in the doorway.

"Spencer," She said, freaked. "Please tell me you tried justifying how bad the Matrix sequels were to her while I was gone so I don't have to step out of here and run away screaming."

"Um, no."

Orabelle stopped laughing, pausing her motion for a moment, then asked in a completely serious manner, "Does I smell like chumb?"

Rose shook her head and threw Spencer's blood-soaked school shirt in the sink. "No." She said, turning the water on. "Just because you're a fish, doesn't mean you'll smell like chum."

"I'm dizzy." The other mermaid said, shaking her head from side to side. "Make the roomb stop spibing."

"Sorry, I don't have the cheat code for that." Rose replied, grabbing another paper towel from the dispenser and ripping it in half. She went over to Orabelle, crouched down, and took the bloodied paper towels from her. She then stuffed the two pieces of new paper towel up her nostrils.

"That hurts!"

"Well, either that or you bleed out…"

"You left the sink on." Spencer remarked.

Rose stood up and tossed out the newly-red paper and went back to the sink. "I know." She picked the shirt up, getting as little of her skin wet as possible, and watched the orange-pink water drip off of it. The bloodstains dripped out with the water, sizzling and bubbling into nothing.

Spencer made a face. "Don't tell me, it's a mermaid blood thing?"

"We turn into pretty fishies when we're wet~" Orabelle almost sang, making her blood-free hand mimic a swimming fish.

"As Fishy Hands said. When you change to be a human, your blood changes slightly." Rose added as she wrung the water out of the shirt. "If your blood isn't where it's supposed to be when it changes, it bubbles away."

"Aren't we supposed to bubble away?" 'Fishy Hands' asked.

Rose bit the side of her mouth and tossed the wet shirt over the door of the stall Spencer was hiding in. "Maybe the Sea Goddess took pity on us because it was an accident. I don't know, really."

"Maybe it isn't real." Spencer said, catching the shirt. "Oh, cold and wet. Great."

"Of course it's real!" Orabelle and Rose exclaimed in unison.

Orabelle stood up and frowned. "One of the yellow princesses before me turned into foamy sea bubble stuff!" She said in a serious manner as Rose grabbed her wrist and stuck her hand under the faucet. "She was stupid and fell in love with a human. The love-love part wasn't stupid, but she revealed herself as a mermaid!"

"What are we talking about, anyway?"

Rose turned the water on for a brief moment, just long enough for the blood to start bubbling away, and then shut it off. "If you must know, there's this myth-legend-something that basically goes, if a mermaid reveals herself or admits love to a human, she'll turn into bubbles."

The stall door open and Spencer walked out, wringing the bottom of his shirt out while walking to the hand dryer. He turned it on and pulled his shirt out under it. "Why would anyone have a rule like that? It's, well, stupid."

"I dunno." Orabelle shrugged.

Rose pulled the paper out of the yellow mermaid's nose and checked to make sure it wasn't still bleeding before continuing. "There's this story of a mermaid that fell in love with a human and saved him during a rainstorm, and the Sea Goddess took pity on her and let her live. I don't know when this happened and I don't know if it lifted the ban or whatever, but probably not."

"I have a question!" Orabelle exclaimed, throwing her arm up in the air as though she was about to talk to a teacher during class.

"Yes, you, down in front."

"Where _is_ Aqua Marina?"

…….

And that's the end of this chapter~! Thanks for the reviews everyone, please keep them coming! I need something to motivate my easily-distracted butt!

And to CocoxLadybat: I have no idea, but it's rumored to be on Cartoon Network. I kinda find that to be a load of BS, but you never know. CN has turned into crap and I don't think they'd pick up something like Mermaid Melody. We'll have to wait and see, I guess~ But I do know that Toei is considering it, and I heard from someone else who recently went to an anime con that they saw a flier or something for the English dub.

Side note: Orabelle has never been to land or broke her skin before, so she has no idea that bleeding is bad. Hopefully I can get her out of the naïve stage soon so I can start writing her as the character I want her to be~!

Fact time!  
Originally, I never planned to write this story because I have a MM group with my friends and I wanted to write that story first, but one night I was doodling on a reference base I made for another one of my mermaid characters and Orabelle's idol-form popped up. I couldn't resist making a back story, and thus, the snowball started rolling and Sparkling Waters was born.

And I stole the crazy-bleeding from one of the Mermaid Melody episodes. I think it was in the single-digits. That one where Lucia pricked her finger? It seemed to be bleeding pretty long for a finger prick.

Until next time, bye~!


	10. Sneezing Toilet Paper

Woooo, another chapter~! Happy new year, everyone!

I know, I take a while to write. Short attention span. But I have an excuse! I'm working on a site for this and I'm drawing the mermaids, yaaaay~ So enjoy this chapter if you can, that is, if you like my fic anyway. /I have no idea what I'm talking about

…….

Rose bit her bottom lip. "Um…uh…shit. Where IS she? I mean, I KNOW she's been kidnapped or captured or whatever, but WHERE?"

"I dunno!" Orabelle said, shaking her head.

"Hey Spence! I _know _you read a lot of shoujo, so do you have any idea where the bad guy keeps the heroine bait?"

Spencer made a face, reluctant to admit to anyone, even people he knew, that he did in fact read a lot of shoujo. He twisted the bottom of his shirt, squeezing out more water. "Normally, the bad guy keeps the heroine bait in his or her lair, which usually turns out to be a castle. But this is real life, not shoujo manga."

"What's shoujo manga?" Orabelle asked, raising her hand before the question again.

"We're shoujo manga." Rose replied, putting an arm over the yellow mermaid's shoulders. "Now c'mon, Cure Pine, we're late for class."

"Cure…Pine?"

"Or Sailor Venus, if you prefer. Though I think she was supposed to be orange, not yellow…"

Orabelle put her hands on her head. "I'm confused…"

"Okay, I'll stop with the magical girl references for now. Besides, they're making me sound like an anime otaku."

Orabelle sighed. Maybe she was just extremely lightheaded. Either that or she was normal-strength lightheaded, stuck in a world she didn't understand. "Should I ask what an 'otaku' is, or should I forget it?"

"Seeing as how that information isn't the least bit important, no. Unless Spencer wants to explain."

"Lovely." Spencer said sarcastically in an almost sing-song voice. "I'm an otaku now."

"Oooh, I wasn't implying that." Rose giggled, taking her arm off of Orabelle. She looked down and found drops of dark red blood on the white bottoms of her bright pink shoes. She sank to the floor and pulled them off.

"Riiiiight. Is it just me, or are you being a bit more of a pain than you were before yesterday?"

"More of a pain." Rose replied. She turned the sink on and rinsed the rubber bottoms of her shoes off. "Now that you know I'm a princess, I can be more of myself instead of pretending to be a normal human. Come to think of it, I'm acting the same, except I'm not holding back now."

"…You were holding back?"

Rose laughed again as she dropped her shoes on the floor. She jumped over to Spencer and caught him in a bone-crushing hug. "I may tease you, but you know I still loves yooouuu!"

"Rose..." Spencer coughed out. "Can't…breathe…"

"Mermaid hair!" Orabelle exclaimed, pointing to Rose's growing, lightening hair. "Fish time!"

Rose loosened her hold on the blond boy and looked at her left wrist. Two bracelets of pink pearls appeared. "Aw shit..."

Her legs merged together and turned bright pink. She fell down and the rest of her transformation completed.

"I TOLD you my shirt is wet!" Spencer said, reaching for the paper towel dispenser and pulling out a bunch of paper towels.

"Oh _fuck_." Rose whispered.

"What?"

"Footsteps." The princesses whispered in unison as quietly as they could.

Rose grabbed her shoes. "Quick, stuff me in a stall."

"Your tailfin will show." Orabelle said.

"I need to hide too!" Spencer added.

"Belle, stuff yourself in a stall. Spencer, give me your shoes."

"I seriously don't like where you're going with this…"

"Dammit, just do it!"

Spencer pulled his shoes off and Rose took them from him, along with the paper towels, and then handed over her pink sneakers. Spencer reluctantly put them on as quickly as her could, picked up Rose and locked them both in a stall at the end. Orabelle then shut herself in a stall and waited for the steps to past.

"What are you doing?" She heard Spencer whisper. Rose shushed him, just before the door opened.

In came the clicking of heels against the floor. Orabelle held her breath, afraid that if she was found, she would be dead. She couldn't help it; with sea demons appearing every which way she turned, she was more than a little edgy and paranoid.

A minute passed and the yellow mermaid was breathing shallowly, afraid to make a sound. What would she say if she was found and asked why she was in the bathroom instead of class?

The owner of the heels, the musical teacher Sakurai Fujioka, was on her way out.

And then Rose sneezed.

"Is someone in here?"

Orabelle's heart skipped a beat. _How am I going to explain myself? 'Oh, hi, I was dragged into the bathroom because of a major nosebleed! No, I didn't go to the nurse, because she'd send me to the hospital, and they'd find out I'm a mermaid! Isn't that nice?' No, it's not!_

Rose rolled her eyes. _No, the toilet paper sneezed._ "Please excuse me, Sensei. It seems I've had some bad sushi for lunch…"

"I'll call the nurse."

"Nonono! I'm fine; I'll go straight there when I'm out! And Sensei, please don't wait on me, I'd hate to hold up class for everyone else…"

A moment of silence, a sigh, the door opening and the clicking of heels later, Orabelle unlocked the stall and stepped out. Spencer did the same, carrying Rose out.

"Your tail is HEAVY." He complained, trying to push Rose's hair out of his face.

"Try having my hair. It's like two bowling balls hanging off your head." She replied, drying herself with the paper towels. She changed back into a human and jumped out onto the floor, dropping Spencer's shoes. "My sneakers back, please."

Spencer kicked off the pink shoes. "Don't ever roll my pant legs up again."

"What? If she looked down, we would've been screwed. Girls' uniforms have skirts, remember? Not pants, unless they're cross-dressing."

He sighed as he sat on the floor. "Whatever." He said, putting his shoes on.

Rose slipped her feet into her shoes and tossed the paper towels out. She then tapped Orabelle on the shoulder. "Why so quiet?"

"Hm? Ah, guess I have nothing to say, really." She replied. "I's still dizzy."

Rose patted her shoulder. "You'll be like that for a while."

…….

Later, after school, the princesses headed down to the beach. The sky was gray again with rainclouds and the air smelled of damp soil and sea water.

"I thought that bastard of a weatherman said it wouldn't rain." Rose mumbled her complaint.

Orabelle stumbled a little over the sand. "Is it just me or does land rain a lot?"

"That makes no sense." Rose shook her head. "But seeing as how you're mad as a box of frogs from blood loss, I'm going to assume that you mean it rains a lot. It does that sometimes."

"Oh." The yellow mermaid stared at the sky. It was completely grayscale; not a hint of color in sight. "Monochrome."

Rose was silent as she stared out at the sea. Orabelle looked towards the horizon, trying to find what was captivating Rose's attention.

"…Hey Orabelle…" She said, breaking the silence. She said it with a tone so soft that it didn't sound like the loud, brash, sarcastic girl that was standing there a moment before.

"Yes?"

"Do you think we'll be able to find the other princesses, stop the sea demons and end the reign of terror of whoever's controlling them? I mean, I honestly have this feeling that we can't do it. Maybe that's because Maria doesn't have her pearl, I don't know. But I can't help but get the feeling that something bad is going to happen, something like…like us losing. And that isn't so off-base, because we have no idea where Aqua Marina is and I don't know if the power we have is enough."

Orabelle put a hand on her shoulder. "I'mma tells you what you already know; we can do it. It wouldn't be our responsibility if it wasn't. Why else would we have power from our pearls?"

Rose sighed. "It isn't specifically our responsibility. No one gave us the job, we're just expected to do it."

Orabelle frowned. "Th…that's true…"

Another moment of silence passed before rose spoke again. "Do you know why we're here?"

She paused, taking a moment to ponder as to why they were at the beach when it looked like it was about to start storming on them. She came up with one reason, but assumed that wasn't it.

"No."

"It's calling me."

"Huh?"

"The sea. It's like it's calling me back. I love land and all, but I really want to go home for a while. And I can't."

Orabelle took her hand off Rose's shoulder and stared out to the sea again. "So I was right. I wasn't the only one who felt it. It must be a fish thing."

Several minutes passed without a word. Strong wind began to blow and the girls turned to leave.

"…_Princesses…_"

"Did you hear something?" Rose asked shaking her head.

"I thinks I did…"

"_Over here, the water…quickly…_"

The turned back around and looked down at the water. Staring back was the reflection of a woman with blue eyes and dirty blonde hair, wearing a light-blue dress and brown sandals. She looked tired.

"Aqua Marina?" The princesses gasped together in astonished unison. She didn't look like she did at their thirteenth birthdays, but it was no doubt the Sea Goddess herself.

"_Yes…I need you to listen carefully, my power is fading quickly and Pensato will be here any minute. I'm trapped in his castle and he's slowly draining my power. The Aqua and Green princesses are being held captive in glass pillars. You have to stop him…I don't yet know what his plans are, but they involve taking over the sea world…_"

"But Aqua Marina! How are we going to do that?" Rose asked, letting her worry slip into her tone of voice.

"And who's Pensato?" Orabelle inquired.

Aqua Marina winced. "_I'm sorry, I have to go now. Remember that I believe in you…and you might want to run, it's about to storm..._"

Her image faded from the water, leaving the girls with more questions than what they started with. Rose sighed.

"Nice way to do a cliché anime cut-off." She said with a frown.

"…What the Hell is a 'Pensato'?" Orabelle asked, staring at the water as thought the Sea Goddess was still there.

"We'll Google it. C'mon, it's gonna rain and we have a job to get to."

The two turned around and left the beach, making their way to the dessert café to start work early. On the way there, they decided to find Maria's pearl tomorrow and start looking for the other mermaids. Two were already captured and unreachable until they went on either a rescue mission or to stop the mysterious Pensato, leaving them to find two more.

…….

"Where is it?" Maria said with a cough as she searched through her jewelry box. "Where? Where? Where?"

She dumped everything out of the box and onto the floor in front of her. She spread it out and sighed as she looked over it. Necklaces, earrings, bracelets, all kinds of rings, other items that sparkled and many shiny things lay on the floor in front of her, even things made of pearls, but the necklace she was looking for was nowhere to be seen.

With another sigh, she put everything back into the box and put the box on her vanity. And as she went to turn, she caught her refection in the mirror. She was in her light-blue dress-pajamas that had a pattern of white stars, but that wasn't what had her attention. What had her was how much it showed when she was sick.

She was already sickly enough on a normal day, even when she wasn't, and it was clear to most people just how bad she felt, but when her extremely-sensitive immune system came into contact with something, like yesterday's dust, she looked like a corpse. Or at least, on her way to becoming one.

She walked over to her bed and lay down on the edge, trying to stare at the ceiling but found it difficult as a dark-blue canopy blocked her vision. She briefly wondered who would have a canopy bed, ending that thought by answering 'herself'.

"I'll find it." She said quietly to herself. "I'll find it, I'll find it, I have to find it…I need to find it…" She coughed and then shut her eyes. "Horrible weak body…you won't stop me, I have to find it. I don't know why, but I have to…find my pearl, but then what…? Face those…those scary things? What are they…and why do I have to do it? I can barely walk around outside on a sunny day without fainting…"

She rolled over and grabbed a pillow, holding it close to herself and sighed yet again.

"Yes, I get it, I'm pathetic…"

Rain pattered heavily against the two windows in her room as she fell silent. _I wonder why it has been raining so much…_ She thought. She would love to be a normal girl, as she would be well enough to go out and play in the rain without getting sick or turning into a mermaid, like a normal person.

_But you aren't a normal person…normal people aren't mermaids or princesses, so stop complaining…_

And as the rain fell,  
Several miles away,  
A music box began to play a piece of music other than what it was made to play.

…….

Oh heeey, that hit seven pages without my A/N! Just barely, but it did! 8D

Okay, sooo, sorry if Maria annoys anyone. She's not meant to, and before you say anything, no, pay attention, she's not whiny; she just doesn't think she can do whatever it is. As I've mentioned, she's a sickly girl, and according to anime and real life, sickly people are like that.

Oh and I want the story to focus more on the girls than the battles, just to keep a crazy amount of singing out. And I just noticed how long it takes me to get past one event to another in this story. Oh well, it's something to real.

Fact time!  
Ooooh, this time it's Rose. Rose Rosy~ Okay so she was the second mermaid I created for this story. I want her to be the opposite of the generic main heroine of team shoujo anime/manga like Lucia and Mew Ichigo and Sailor Moon. As you can tell, she's snarky and all her cussing is unnecessary, and that is why it's there. Not because she's a bad person, no, but because she's like that. And oh grah I have no idea what I'm talking about I'm so tired. orz sorry for my lack of purple prose, I dun like purple prose.

Thank you for the reviews, please keep them coming!


	11. An Unthought Plan

Grah I guess I should probably mention that most of my writing is yes, chit-chat between characters. THEY MUST TALK TO EATCH OTHER :U /omg I feel so insecure about my writing that I must mention this/

…….

The next day, being Saturday morning, dressed in a short, pale yellow tube dress, Orabelle left for the beach as she longed for the smell of sea water again. And even thought it rained yesterday and it was cloudy and wet out, she didn't bother to bring her umbrella.

She stared out to the horizon, taking in the smell of the sea air. It was early in the morning, around six a.m., and the cold wind whipped around her. Being accustomed to the cool temperatures of the underwater world though, she didn't even notice.

After a while of standing in near-darkness and staring out to nothing in particular, she watched a few surfers as the caught some early-morning waves. She was truly amazed that people could do that, as she had never seen anything like it before. She didn't exactly know the concept of floating and sinking, knowing only that bubbles rose and rocks fell.

But humans are heavier than most rocks, leaving her both amazed and confused. If the heavy sunk and the light floated, then how could one surf? It boggled her mind, leaving her determined to find out.

"What are you doing out here?"

Orabelle turned her head, assuming the question was directed at her, and found it to be true. Umi walked up to her, arms crossed and slightly shivering in his blue jacket.

"What do you mean?" She asked, confused as to why he was shaking.

"It's cold out here." He replied. "Can't you feel it? You look like you should be freezing."

She looked back out to the sea. "No. Actually, I didn't even notice. I'm used to it."

"What, does it feel like Antarctica in…wherever you are from?"

She took a brief moment to think. Surely the water reached freezing temperatures at the bottom of the ocean, but it had to be much colder in the actual Antarctica, right? But then, if it did, why didn't she have ice cubes floating by her at home? Or an underwater glacier, for that matter? She crossed the thought out of her mind, deciding it was colder above land.

"Australia. And I think the actual Antarctica would be much cooler, but then again, I've never been there. Have you?" _Mental note: Ask the purple mermaid princess about this._

He smirked. "Okay, miss I'm-Australian-without-an-accent-and-I'm-afraid-of-water, no, I haven't."

She bit her lip in attempt to evade a frown. Was that meant to be mean? She glanced to the side and noticed what she could only describe as a small smile spread on his lips, and figured he meant it as a joke.

"And Australian with no accent…" She repeated thoughtfully. "I'll assume that you've never been to Australia, either, so how would you know if I was meant to have an accent?"

He bit the side of his mouth. _Oh, smartass_. He thought. "You win again."

"I seem to do that a lot."

He grinned and chuckled a bit. "You know, for a smart girl, you're clearly missing something."

"What?" She asked, wondering what that could be. So many questions and thought in need of answering in such a short time began to overload her head and she could no longer think.

"While you're out here watching a bunch of dumbasses risking hypothermia for a few good waves, you're forgetting that you are wearing a _very_ short dress and while you are showing off your intelligence, I can ogle your legs."

Her eyes grew wide and her face turned red with sheer embarrassment. She grabbed the hem of her dress and pulled it down as far as she could.

"PERVERT!" She shouted with a frown. "Pervert!"

Umi only laughed. "Look, if you're going to wear things like that, people are _going_ to stare. And it doesn't help at all that you just so happen to be very pretty, either. But, y'know, that's not a _bad_ thing…"

She just stood there, dumbfounded, searching for the right words. This would have never happened in the mermaid world. No, in the mermaid world, or out for that matter, she was, is, and will always be a princess, and she should be treated with respect, not with hormonal teenaged boy's perverted jokes. But she couldn't quite beat on him for that, as at the same time, he was complimenting her.

"St-t-t-stop saying things like th-that!" She stuttered, still at a loss for words.

"But it's true!" He laughed.

"Stop it!"

"Why the red face, embarrassed or something? I don't know WHY you would be, though…"

Without thinking, she went to punch his shoulder and missed as he moved back. Umi ran out in front of her, still laughing, and then darted across the beach. Orabelle chased after him, wobbling and nearly tripping as she still hadn't gotten very used to her human legs.

And then something weird happened; she began coughing like mad again. Maybe she just wasn't ready for the heavy breathing that came along with running.

Dizzy, she kept on running after him. She had no idea what she would do when she caught him, but still, she chased on. That is, until her foot sunk into the moist ground and she tripped.

"Ow…" She coughed, trying to stand up. She fell back, landing on the ground again and coughed up a storm.

She didn't know how long she had been down, but after some time Umi walked up to her and offered a hand to help her up. "Are you alright?" He asked.

Orabelle took his hand and he pulled her up. She coughed again before answering with, "I think."

Truthfully, she didn't know if she was 'alright'. Her chest hurt and her lungs felt frozen, but that could easily be from running and inhaling all that cold air. Her human body was different from her mermaid body, and she had no idea just how different. Maybe she was supposed to feel that way.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah." She coughed out in reply.

Umi put a hand to his chin and gave her a look that was somewhere between a thinking face and some odd brand of wonder. Finally, he said, "I don't exactly believe that, but you would know better than I would."

Orabelle brushed her dress off. "Before we go further into annoying each other, shouldn't we formally introduce ourselves?"

"Sure, Princess." He replied, rolling his eyes playfully. "Hibiki Umi, almost a high school student. You?"

"Arella Orabelle," She said with another cough. "Princess."

He smirked. "Okay, 'Princess'. What is your royal highness doing out here, early in the morning, while it's freezing out, on the beach?"

"Absolutely nothing." She answered jadedly. "I _was_ watching those dumbasses, but I lost interest. And quite frankly, I would have never noticed it was cold until you pointed it out. So, what are you doing out here? Not joining the dumbasses, are you?"

He laughed. "No, I'm not joining the dumbasses."

"Mermaid, then?"

"What mermaid in their right mind would come out when it's freezing?"

It was her turn to laugh. "Alright, I get it, it is freezing. But! Just think of the temperature at the bottom of the ocean. It would be a lot colder under water than above it, wouldn't it?"

"Right, right," He replied, looking out at the ocean. "Then I guess I'm doing the same thing you're doing here; nothing."

"Actually…" She started, looking for the right words. "I think…I'm here because, uh, I like the water."

He gave her a side-ways look. "How can you like it _and_ be afraid of it? I mean, that's confusing!"

She shrugged. "I don't know, maybe I'm confusing."

"Well, then there's something sorted out."

Orabelle mentally sighed. Being a princess and the ruler of a very large kingdom, she dealt with all kinds of people, but never anyone like the person next to her now. She just couldn't figure out if he was insulting her or complimenting her.

She sighed out loud. "You know, I honestly don't understand you. First you yell at me, then you argue, then you apologize, and now you're talking to me like you've known me forever while somehow crushing my ego and embarrassing me at the same time…it's kind of confusing, isn't it?"

He made a face. "Oh, heh, sorry about that, Arella-san…but you're confusing too, right? Especially since you're new. Oh, by the way, I heard, and not to mention seen, your nosebleed yesterday…are you alright? You didn't rattle any brain cells, did you?"

She slightly blushed. _He's picking on me again…and then he asks if I'm okay. I'm confused…what the Hell? I'm so confused…_ "No." She informed him. "I did not rattle any brain cells. My face hurts, but I'm fine."

"Hm…" He turned to look at her, getting in her face. "You know, you don't even look bruised. One would have thought you would, considering the sound your face made when it kissed the floor…"

She jumped back, turning another shade of red. "Don't get in my face like that, okay?"

"Does it freak you out?" He asked with a smirk and a small laugh.

"Yes!"

He laughed again. "You really are confusing."

"Aww, you went on a date and didn't invite me?"

Orabelle turned around to find a girl wearing a light-pink jacket with dark-pink flowers walking towards her with her hands behind her head. She yawned, and then zipped her jacket up further as the wind blew, her pigtails flowing with it.

"I'm not on a date with anyone." Orabelle replied meekly, twisting the hem of her dress nervously. If that were true, she'd never hear the end of it.

"According to her, what we're really doing is watching the hypothermia surfers while shrinking her ego." Umi said.

Rose looked out to sea, and sure enough, she saw the surfers. "Dumbasses." She mumbled.

Orabelle cracked a smile and tried not to laugh. "Oh, nice one."

"What are you laughing about?" Rose asked. "Are you snickering at me? Are my pigtails not straight?"

"Tsh…nothing like that- Hey!"

Rose pulled the brunette girl into a headlock. "Tell me!" She said, tickling the princess' side.

"Ahha! Ha! Ro-Rose! Haha! Stop that! Haha!"

"Also! Where's your jacket, little missy? You'll catch a cold out here if you're dressed like this!"

"Ah-ha! I c-can't-Ha!-answer with you doing that! Haha!"

"Oh really?" Rose continued. "Well, take this!"

She released the yellow mermaid from her headlock and brought both her hands to Orabelle's sides, tickling her has much as she possibly could. Orabelle laughed uncontrollably, trying to squirm away.

"Shinju-san, careful-!" Umi went to say, cutting off as Orabelle fell down, bringing him and the pink princess along. "Ouch."

"Yay!" Rose exclaimed, sitting up and digging her hands into the damp sand. "Ground! Hi, ground!"

Orabelle sat up and gave Rose a look. That was certainly odd behavior, but then again, Rose isn't exactly a normal girl.

"Has she cracked or something?" Umi asked in a whisper as he watched the pink-haired girl throw sand in the air with a mile-long smile. She laughed as the sand rained down to the ground again.

"I honestly don't know." Orabelle whispered back, brushing sand off her dress.

Still watching the sand, Rose said, "I can hear you, you know."

"I didn't say anything!" Orabelle responded, backing up a bit.

"Right, sure you didn't. Well, no, I'm just hyper this morning. I would know if I cracked, right?"

"Whatever you say." Umi replied, unconvinced. He stood up and offered Orabelle a hand again. She took it, and Rose grabbed on to her other hand, getting pulled up at the same time.

"Well, anyway," Rose continued, brushing sand off the back of her pants. "Belle here and I have a treasure hunt to go on. You won't have some weird separation anxiety attack if I drag her away, will you?"

"No." Umi replied. He looked at Orabelle. "So you're really here for a treasure hunt, then?"

"No, I didn't even know Rose was going to show up here-"

"Come ooooon!" Rose whined, grabbing onto Orabelle's arm. "It's going to take from now until midnight, I just know it!"

"Okay, okay!"

The girls left the beach with Rose practically dragging Orabelle along. They down the road, unsure of where they were going.

"Where are we looking first?" Orabelle asked. "And shouldn't we go get Maria to help? I mean, she would know where to look before we do, right?"

Rose sighed. "I don't know where she lives. If I did, we'd be going there already. That just pisses on our parade, doesn't it?"

"I don't know what that expression means," Orabelle replied. "So I guess I'll just answer with a yes."

"So…dare I ask?"

"About what?"

"You and jerk Romeo."

Orabelle frowned. "Who the Hell is 'Romeo'?"

Rose sighed and put a hand to her head. "Right, you know next to nothing about the human world…he's the guy who suicided like a bitch at the end of the story because he thought his love muffin was dead. Remember! If you ever read it, it ISN'T the great love story everyone says it is. Those two freaks were only in love with each others' appearances."

"That isn't a great basis for love…" Orabelle nearly mumbled, wondering why anyone would only love for looks. "Wait! So I was talking to that person? When?"

Rose smacked her own forehead. "Facepalm! When someone calls someone else 'Romeo', they mean 'suspected love interest'! Now do you get it?"

"I think…" She replied, puzzled. "Wait! So Umi's-?"

"_Yes_, I just called him your boyfriend. You can be a bit dense…"

She flushed bright red and froze where she stood. "WHAT?"

Rose stopped next to her, putting her arms behind her head again and yawning. "It's best not to fall in love while you're on land, because both of you will pull a Bella Swan and then you'll pull a Romeo and Juliet. It'll only hurt, so forget about it, okay?"

"Why are you being so weird? You're not making sense…"

"I've watched enough anime to know how this goes. Girl meets boy, they fall in love, one of them leaves or forgets, and the other spends a whole season angsting about it. Could we skip the angst, please? Because I left my wrist-slitting razors at home."

She frowned. "It's not that you're wrong, but that's a bit mean to say."

"I'll give you credit though, at least you aren't the bubble-headed generic blonde heroine leader. Word of god says that's always pink, but I don't want to be blonde or the leader. And hey, you're the one with an actual reason to be blonde, how come you turned out brunette?"

She shrugged and gave a sigh. "How am I supposed to know?" She asked tiredly. "It's not like I can pick my hair color."

"Quite right." Rose replied. "Anyway, on to looking for that pearl. Yeah, we probably should have Maria here to help, but there's no way to find her."

"It could be in one of her favorite places…do you know anything about her? Because I've only seen her at school two or three times."

Her expression changed from calm to annoyed. She began walking again, Orabelle following behind. "Since showing up here, I only know four things about that girl; One, she's almost always sick or too weak to go to school, two, she's so shy that just looking at her would probably give her a heart attack, three, it's rumored that's she's more loaded than Donald Trump, Vince McMahon and Bill Gates combined, and four, she's the mermaid princess of the Arctic ocean. Other than that, I got nothing."

"N-nothing's a good start."

Rose sighed. "There's no way in Hell I thought this plan through. I wonder where I can get a pearl radar…"

The two continued down the road with Rose mumbling to herself for a while. After some time the beach vanished, and the only thing that separated the ocean from the road was metal railing.

"Hello there, pink mermaid princess. Who's your friend?"

Orabelle and Rose looked to the ocean to see Amber, somehow standing on the water with a smirk on her face.

"Shit, I forgot that you know my human identity!" Rose said, grabbing her shell pendant.

"Move!" Orabelle exclaimed, trying to pull Rose out of the way. A large wave came over the road, lowering to the ground level, turning the girls into mermaids and pulling them over the rails. Amber submerged herself in the ocean, meeting up with the mermaids.

"Pink pearl voice!

"Yellow pearl voice!"

The two transformed into their idol forms, microphones in hand and a melody humming in the water around them. Amber just yawned, bored and particularly calm about the situation she was in.

"For a sea demon, you are _really_ stupid." Rose said with malice. "I mean, hello! Humans could have seen us! Bubbles!"

Orabelle joined in with, "And then you've got no one to drag back to Mister Evil, and a useless pearl! Ohhh, I could just imagine the trouble you would be in."

"Almost seems like turning into bubbles would be worth it then, doesn't it?"

"Stop gossiping and sing your stupid song." Amber replied tiredly. "I do have things to do, you know."

The princesses ignored her and tapped their microphones together, saying "Pichi Pichi Voice, Live Start!" as a bubble of light surrounded them. They put their microphones to their lips and began lacing lyrics into the music around them.

"Nanairo no kaze ni fukarete" Orabelle sang with a smile. "Tooi misaki wo mezashiteta"

"Yoake mae kikoeta MERODI" Rose added next. "Sore wa totemo natsukashii uta"

The girls switched microphones, holding their own up for the other to use.

"Higashi no sora e to habataku toritachi

"Saa, takarajima ni nukeru chikamichi"

"Are you done yet?" Amber interrupted impatiently, still bored. "If so, I'll be capturing you now."

"What the Hell?" Rose asked, puzzled. "No effect?"

"I don't know!" Orabelle replied, just as confused. "Ahh! What's happening?"

The sphere of light, the 'Live Stage', was being crushed by the surrounding water. Amber used her hands to manipulate it from afar, shrinking the stage, little by little, until it was just Orabelle and Rose squashed together in a bubble that only a Barbie doll would find unusually large.

"I've caught you, Mermaid Princesses!" Amber said joyfully. "Now my question is, are you going to surrender and come willingly, or do I bring you back the hard way?"

"Shut up, I can't think while you're talking." Rose responded rudely. "Damn it, is there ANY way to fix this?"

"Yeah, you know, microphones are _not_ what you want pinned to your chest." Orabelle added. "It hurts."

"Stop ignoring me!" Amber yelled, pulling something out of her ears. "Ugh! For princesses, you really act like insolent little kids!"

"Earplugs…" Rose said quietly, noticing the little orange objects floating towards the sea floor. "Hey Belle, ready to start again?"

"Anything's fine with me," She replied. "My microphone is going nowhere."

"Pichi Pichi Voice Live Resume!"

"What?" Amber yelled. "No! I don't want to listen!"

"_Nanatsu no umi no rakuen_," They sang together, better than before. The Live Stage began returning to its normal size, giving the girls room to move around.

"_Arashi no yoru no ato ni wa ai wo tsutaerutame inochi ga mata umareru_

"Nanatsu _no kuni no MERODIA_

"Daremo _ga itsuka wa koko wo tabidatsu hi ga kitemo_

"_Watashi wa wasurenai_~!"

"Sugar Shine Pitch!" They both exclaimed, pointing at the sea demon. "Would you like an encore?"

"NO!" Amber shrieked, putting her hands over her ears. "Next time, you're going back with me!"

She vanished in a swirl of bubbles. Rose rolled her eyes.

"Sea demons are so _annoying_." She said.

"Agreed." Orabelle replied.

The two reverted back into their mermaid forms and surfaced. Orabelle moves her hair out of her eyes as she looked at the gray scenery. A small raindrop landed on her face.

"Why does it keep raining?" She asked.

Rose shrugged. "I don't know. It does this every now and then, but it's been raining almost a week and a half. Nothing we can do about it, I guess."

They swam to a near-by unoccupied pier and pulled themselves out of the water. Turning into humans, they wrung the water out of their hair.

"Actually, screw this." Rose said. She dived into the water and began swimming away.

"Rose, wait!" Orabelle called, watching a pink blur move around in the water. She jumped in, turning into a mermaid once more, and followed Rose.

…….

Wooooo~! Ten pages, with and without A/N! AWESOME!

This time on 'annoying-ass fact time', it's Maria~  
She's one of those constantly sick people, just 'cause I'm a bitch :D But she isn't like Michal Amagi. Nooo, she's got a valid reason to be sick, which I'll explain later. Soyeah, basically Maria = sick shy girl who never talks to anyone and lost her pearl. Can't say much more because I'll ruin the story.

Thank you for the reviews, please keep them coming~


	12. Monotone in Pink

This chapter's done. I quite frankly think it's a bit crappy and something you'd find in all Mary-Sue MM stories, but oddly, I like it…I think that's because I didn't think. Review responses are at the bottom!

…….

"Rose, what are you doing?" Orabelle yelled as she went after the pink mermaid.

"We need a pearl radar!" She called back. "And the only place I can think of to find one is at my kingdom!"

Orabelle increased her speed, almost losing the princess. "And when did you plan on telling me this? And you know going back isn't safe right now!"

Rose bit her lip as the yellow princess swam up beside her. "I thought that you knew by now that I kinda don't plan anything."

"Yeah, that's the problem. And what about it being dangerous?"

"Well, we either win, or we go down kicking ass. What are you, my mother?"

Orabelle frowned, confused. "What are you talking about? We're mermaids, we don't have parents."

"Exactly."

"…I don't get it."

"And now you do."

She shook her head. "What are you talking about?"

"It's not supposed to make sense. Therefore, it does. Does that make sense?"

"No."

"Okay then."

Orabelle sighed in defeat and continued on with silence for the rest of the trip. An hour later, they arrived at a large, shimmering pink castle with more than enough windows and pillars to fill the Roman Colosseum. Contrasting shades of yellow light painted the roof and yellow sand covered the sea floor leading up to the entrance of the castle, lined with pink coral.

"Wow…" Orabelle gaped, staring intently as they swam closer to the entrance. "It's so…"

"What?" Rose asked, paying almost no mind to the yellow mermaid's amazement.

"Different!" She replied. "I mean, we share the same ocean, I thought the castles would be somewhat similar…and it's not. It's still beautiful, though."

"I'd say thanks for that, but I didn't build it."

They entered the castle, arriving in a large pink hall with plenty of windows, second-floor balconies that overlooked and pillars. Rose expected to find Orabelle looking around and taking the sight in, but not herself.

"That's…what the Hell?" She mumbled as she swam along. "I...I don't get it…"

"Get what?" Orabelle asked cheerily.

"M…my castle!" She exclaimed, stopping in place and throwing her arms out. "What happened?"

"Halt!" A male voice yelled. Someone with a torso of a human man and what looked to be the bottom half of a snake in knight's amore with an axe swam, or rather, slithered, up to the mermaids. Orabelle froze as the serpent-man approached, and it was quiet clear that she changed from herself to a shy little girl.

"Who goesss there?" The serpent-man asked, swinging the axe around like it was a pointing cane.

Rose put one of her hands to her forehead. "Who the Hell are you and what are you doing in my castle?" She asked.

"Excussse me? Your castle?" The guard replied, taken quiet (no pun intended) off guard. "Intruder! Anssswer the question!"

Rose shook her head and glanced over to Orabelle. "I feel like pulling a Queen of Hearts and yelling 'off with his head'. Would that be wrong?"

"A little bit." She replied.

Rose looked back to the guard. "I'll only say this once, so listen up; move your ass. You are in my way, and last I checked, I outrank you _greatly_. Princesses are like that, you know."

The guard did not respond, only narrowing his eyes. Mermaids of every color swam out onto the higher balconies and watched on as the ocean's princess had a stare-down with the guard.

A moment later, she said "Fuck it," and swam forward. The guard swung his axe.

"NO!"

Rose blinked. One second she saw an axe coming at her throat, and the next a wall of golden hair blocked her view.

What the guard had intended to be a warning to stop the mermaid from advancing into the castle turned into something horribly wrong. Orabelle brought her hands to her neck while a shocked look formed on her face. Every mermaid who had seen what just happened froze in shock or swam down, crowding around the three.

Where Orabelle had swum out in front of the pink princess, the axe blade was closer to her neck and sliced it. Blood flowed out between her fingers.

"I-I could use a me-medic…"

Overcome by sudden rage, Rose swam out from behind the yellow princess, pulled her arm back and with all she had, punched the guard on the side of his face. He fell –Or rather, sunk- to the floor. Rose looked down and glared.

"Do me a favor, would you? Get your worthless and pathetic ass OUT OF HERE and go get eaten by a shark! Go die in the deepest pits of Hell under the sea, go get caught in a fishing net and sent through a grinder, I don't give a fuck, just get out of my sight before I kill you myself! What the fuck do you think you were doing, threatening your own princess?"

"Rose…" Orabelle managed to get out. "I think you knocked him unconscious…"

"I don't care!"

Whispers filled the hall as the scene went down. Rose grabbed one of Orabelle's blood-covered hands and bolted through the castle, looking for the hospital wing. She found it, in the same place it was when she last visited, only it looked different than she remembered.

Several minutes of near-chaos and screaming later, Orabelle was being taken away on the mermaid's equivalent of a stretcher, made of coral and seaweed.

…….

Maria sighed. "Why am I even looking for it? Why's it important now? It's just a necklace, it's not like I don't have other ones…"

She frowned slightly and pulled her other boot on.

"And what's the point of having a princess that's too shy and too weak to do anything? There's none…and why am I still going over this? It doesn't matter. I'm not a princess, and I can't find that necklace because I don't have it."

She stood up, brushed her skirt down and turned to leave her room, but the front off her boot got caught on the carpet and she tripped. She tried to grab onto her dresser, instead knocking down several jewelry boxes, perfume bottles, a mirror, a pair of reading glasses, a string of beads and a small wooden box.

She landed on the floor before the objects, all crashing down quickly after her. The wooden box hit the floor on its side and popped open, and out came a shell necklace like Orabelle's and Rose's, only dark blue in color. It landed on the floor, popped open, skipped twice and stopped next to the box.

"Ow…" Maria groaned. She lifted her head slightly and the shell came into her sight. She sat up and grabbed the open locket.

The inside was a slightly lighter color than the outside and had four teardrop-shaped jewels in it, lighter than the wings on the locket, and there were four yellow lines, swirled at the ends. In the middle was a small, rounded out yellow hole.

"It's empty…"

…….

As Orabelle had become unconscious and Rose could do nothing but worry in there, the pink princess returned to her throne. She sat and waited silently, chewing on her nails.

After about half an hour of sitting in silence, three mermaids, no doubt her servants, approached her cautiously.

"Um, Princess…" One of them began, nervously twiddling her fingers. "Princess, it is great that you have returned, but…"

"But what?" She asked, utterly void of emotion.

"What just happened, well-"

Rose cut her off. "Only happened because I can't handle things like a civilized being."

"Th-that's not it..." One of the other pink mermaids began, only to stop mid-sentence.

"Of course it is." She replied in monotone. "Instead of acting like the adult princess I am, I dealt with that like a child. And in front of my own people, no less. And if I didn't handle that like a jackass, one of my only two friends wouldn't be hurt again and…"

She trailed off and looked away with a sigh. The three mermaid servants stayed silent, in case their princess was going to continue; she didn't, instead starting a new sentence.

"What happened after I left?"

"About that…" The last servant said, immediately cutting herself off. There was another moment of silence before one of the three was brave enough to talk.

"The night you left, um, th-the castle was attacked and destroyed…"

Rose's eyes widened. "What?"

"We began rebuilding it, but we didn't have the original blueprints, and that's why it is different from how you remember, Princess. We wouldn't have finished rebuilding it by today if hundreds of fleeing mermaids from the other destroyed kingdoms did not help…"

Rose rubbed her eye. Even though no one could see it very clear underwater, she was crying. "Why did no one alert me?" She asked. Despite her attempt, her voice still trembled.

"We didn't know where to find you." The second servant said.

"…Is that guard gone?"

"Yes, I sent him out of here when he awoke." Another servant said. The other two looked at her.

"What are you talking about?" The one on the left end asked. "I sent him out before coming here."

"No, I did…" The one in the middle said.

Rose 'jumped' from her throne. "Shit!" She exclaimed, swimming out as fast as she could. "Belle!"

…….

Orabelle stirred from her temporary sleep and promptly jumped back, just barely missing the front end of an axe.

"What the Hell?" She exclaimed, backing against a wall. She quickly regretted yelling, as it hurt her throat too much.

The half-snake guard pulled his axe out of the bed Orabelle had been sleeping in and frowned, showing off a pair of fangs.

"Troublesssome mermaid." He hissed.

"What do you want?" Orabelle asked, grabbing her locket with one hand.

"I've been undercover for weeksss to get you mermaidsss, only to be knocked out by the kingdom'sss brat." He complained, slithering closer to her. "Give me your pearls and I'll make thisss quick."

Her fingers tightened around the wings of the yellow clam-shell pendant as she slid down the wall. She couldn't sing due to the stitched gash, and worried that if she tried to swim away, the axe would get the best of her.

_What to do…_ She wondered worriedly. She could feel her fingers loosen around the shell. All three options sucked.

"Die."

The guard turned to find Rose, already transformed and glaring. Orabelle thanked the mermaid gods that she would be out of trouble.

Rose brought her mic to her lips and began singing. There was no live stage or music; only vocals. Cold, beautiful vocals.

The castle began to shake and the snake began screaming, covering his ears. Suddenly, he turned into red bubbles and foam, leaving the axe to fall down and the armor to hit the ground.

"…_Watashi wa wasurenai._"

The castle ceased its movement when the pink princess finished her song. She lowered her mic and looked over Orabelle; slightly shaken, worried, but somewhat relived.

She stepped forward, through the puddle of foam and blood still floating in the water, over the axe and stopped in front of Orabelle. She pulled the yellow mermaid into a hug, catching her off guard.

Inhabitants of the pink kingdom swarmed around, looking for the source of the commotion. Mermaids of other colors flooded in after. Rose quickly let go of Orabelle and whispered, "Stop getting hurt, okay?"

Orabelle shook her head as the pink princess turned around to face everyone. Rose rubbed her cheek with the back of her hand, cleaning blood off with her glove. The crowd looked on with expressions of confusion, worry, admiration and mixes of the three.

"She's so pretty…" One of the mermaids whispered. More not-so-quiet whispers filled the room, half wondering what happened, and half admiring Rose.

She blushed slightly and said nonchalantly, "No need to worry. There was some trouble, it's gone now, you can return to your lives."

That didn't happen.

Half an hour later, after billions of questions and fawning, Rose just barely managed to escape from everyone and find the resident fortuneteller. She left four minutes later with a rectangular pink device in hand.

"Belle, we're going." Rose called up the hall.

Orabelle was sitting on the railing of a second-floor balcony with another blonde-and-yellow mermaid. She waved goodbye and swam down to Rose.

"Ready?" She asked.

"I've got the radar." She replied, holding up the pink rectangle. There was a black screen on it with green gridlines. Two dots blinked green on it, with those dots obviously being the yellow and pink pearls. "I've also got a bit of information."

"Can I know?" Orabelle asked as they swam out of the castle.

"First off, the orange princess is missing. Nothing we can do about that until she turns up…"

She shrugged. "I assume the indigo princess was missing, considering she didn't know she was a princess, but we found her easy."

"True…also, I know why we didn't turn into bubbles. Legend thing says that only happens if you give up your identity willingly."

Orabelle brushed some golden hair out of her face. "We slipped, we fell, I would say that's unwilling."

Rose nodded and then they continued on in silence. Halfway back to land, Orabelle knew something was up. The pink princess was quiet, almost uncharacteristically so.

_I might know what this is about…_ She thought, not noticing that she was falling behind slightly. _But some, please tell me that isn't it…it would just seem weird, right? But then, I've only known her for a few days, and it sorta feels like forever. Maybe it's a mermaid thing? Ugh! Get your thoughts straight! Okay, from what I know, Rose is loud, doesn't mind being ignored, and she's a little cold and cynical, but a protector type, right? Gah! What am I thinking, anyway? Just knock it off and stop thinking!_

…_Damn it! I said stop thinking! Stop being stupid and stop thinking!_

"Hey Orabelle?"

Her thoughts stopped as Rose's words entered her ears. "Yes?" She responded, lifting her head.

"Are you all right?" She asked. "You're falling behind."

The yellow mermaid looked around, and then cursed herself. She was at least two feet behind the pink mermaid. She gave her tail a kick for a burst of speed and pulled up beside Rose.

"I'm fine, just got lost in my thoughts…" She replied. "Are you okay?"

"…What?"

"Are you okay?" She repeated in a cheery voice. The first time she asked, it just slipped out. She gave the repeat a cheery tone, as to not have Rose wonder if something was wrong.

She ran the fingers of her free hand through her bangs and gave a small smile. "Perfectly fine."

_A smile!_ Orabelle thought as Rose looked ahead. _Not a smirk, but a smile! I think that's the first one I've seen! Oh Hell, thankfully no one can hear my thoughts, they sound so childish for an adult mermaid…why am I even thinking that? Stop it, Orabelle!_

"Almost there." Rose said to herself.

…….

Grah I forgot to make clear that a few chapters back, when Orabelle was acting like an idiot, that she was very loopy from bloodloss. It's based on my own behavior when I'm crazy from bloodloss. I bleed a LOT, even if it's a tiny cut -~-

Mo12341234: Thanks! I have a lot of fun writing her, too~

Princess TMN: Shhhhh! While I cannot comfirm of deny that (But you did in one of the chapters! Oh shut up! Grah stop talking to yourself!) you're veeery smart.

Also, I didn't try to make Umi like Kaito. I kinda don't like Kaito, to be honest ^^; But thanks anyway! If you start a fanclub, I wanna see! XD

And Rose seems to be the crowd favorite~ That makes me happy. While she isn't the main character, I know that I'm doing something right!

I'd write a Tokyo Mew Mew/Mermaid Melody fic, but I've only seen like, four episodes of TMM ^^; And that's of the bad dub.

Lastly, thank you very much, and I think I juggle them so easily because I live with eight other people, who all happen to be family XD When you live around so many, you get a good idea of how you're supposed to write it.

Okay, that's the end of this long A/N, if the next chapter isn't up by the end of the month, send sharks after me.


	13. Disasters are Fun

Hold the sharks! I just barely made the deadline, but I did iiittt! I would have been up earlier, but I got distracted and made an Orabelle Flele shell. It should be up on my dA sometime tomorrow.

…….

Not long after, they broke the surface of the water behind the rock pile at the beach. The rain was still light and the surfers were still out.

"What am I going to do about the stitches?" Orabelle asked, almost whiningly so as she changed from a tail to legs and a seashell bra to her dress.

"Shit," Rose said, wringing her pigtails out. "I forgot about those…do you have a ribbon or something?"

Orabelle looked at her dress, and then began twisting the water out of her golden hair. "I just learned about underwear, and you're expecting me to carry around a ribbon?"

Rose bit her bottom lip. "Should've seen that coming...um, crap. Okay, we're going back to your place. Walk behind me and put your hair on your shoulders, that way it's less noticeable."

Orabelle complied, pulling her now short brown hair over her shoulders. Rose picked up the pearl radar and they ran off to the Café.

…….

Rose opened the door and the two went inside. Orabelle glanced at the clock, making them hurry as it said 9:51 and it was almost time for work. She ran upstairs to change into her work uniform and Rose ran to the backroom lockers to change. They met up in the kitchen two minutes later.

"Still, what about the stitches?" Orabelle asked again, poking at the threads that held her throat closed.

"Don't pick at them!" Rose said, pulling Orabelle's hand down. "I honestly don't know what to do about them. Tell Alice?"

Orabelle scratched the back of her neck. "See, now why didn't I think of that?"

"Think of what?"

The yellow princess turned around to find the blonde guardian behind her. _Why am I suddenly so nervous? _Orabelle wondered.

"…What's that?"

"They're, um, stitches." Orabelle replied. "There was an accident earlier, and it seems I'm injury-prone…I also have a giant bruise on my stomach and smashed my nose yesterday."

"Orabelle!" Alice exclaimed, her tone mixed with worry and annoyance. "Why didn't you tell me any of this?"

"Sorry!" She replied, throwing her hands up. "I'm not used to reporting in!"

"'Scus me," Rose said, cutting in. "The stitches are my fault, really…"

"Would you care to explain?" Alice asked, flipping her hair out of her eyes.

"Well, we found a third mermaid princess, but her pearl is missing. The only way we can find it is if we had something to track it, so I swam off to get a pearl radar from my kingdom, and I didn't tell Orabelle so she followed, and I was mouthing off to one of the guards, who turned out to be a snake-thing, and he swung his axe-thing and Orabelle swam out in front of me, and from that on it's just a mess I'd rather not explain."

She switched back to the yellow princess. "And your nose?"

"It kind of hurts." She replied. She got a look from Alice and realized that wasn't what she meant. "Oh! Well, I tripped, and I hit the floor pretty hard, either that or the school's floor is hard…"

"This was at school?"

She cringed. "Anyway, Rose said I was bleeding like a waterfall, and then all that other stuff happened, but no one saw it. Well, other than Spencer, because I bled all over his shirt…"

Alice put her hand on her forehead and her expression changed. "Please, please tell me he doesn't know you're a mermaid."

"He does." Rose replied. "He also knows I'm a mermaid, and Maria, it's a long story. He's not going to tell."

"How are you not bubbles?"

"That's only if you reveal yourself willingly."

Alice moved her hand up, running her fingers through her bangs and pulling them back. "Okay, the human cover is blown. Is there anything else to worry about?"

"I can't sing." Orabelle responded.

Alice ran her finders through her hair again. "Okay, you go sit." She said. Orabelle grabbed a chair from the table and sat in front of the floor chart. She then turned to the pink princess. "Rose-hime, if she decides to outside for any reason, please go with her."

"Will do." Rose replied. "Also, um, one of the sea demons knows our land identities."

Alice sighed. "Great, great, great…"

…….

"Careful!"

"I'm trying!"

"Ah! It's flying out of the bowl!"

"Oh Hell, how do you drive this thing?"

"Crap, it got in my eye…"

The kitchen doors burst open and in came Alice, blonde hair in her face and all. "What's going on in here?" She exclaimed.

Startled, Orabelle dropped the electric mixer. The cord unplugged from the wall and it landed at Rose's shoes.

"Nothing!" Orabelle said, picking the mixer up and laying it on the counter.

"A lot of nothing." Rose added, looking at her dirtied hands.

Alice rubbed one of her eyes. The two princesses stood at a counter with a large bowl and the electric mixer, and everything two feet out was covered in splatters of chocolate cake batter. The majority of it had splattered on Orabelle and Rose, and Rose was licking it off her fingers.

"For a lot of nothing, it's good." She said.

Orabelle ran one of her fingers over a lock of her hair, coating it in chocolate cake batter, and licked it off. "You're right. Hey, did I get any on the ribbon?"

Rose checked the ribbon around Orabelle's throat, obviously there to hide the stitches. Surprisingly, there was no trace of batter. "You're clear."

"You two…" Alice groaned, looking over the mess. "Next time, use the whisk. And Orabelle-hime? Someone's here asking for you."

"Wait, didn't we close early?" Orabelle questioned. "How did anyone get in?"

"They knocked." She replied, running her fingers through her bangs again.

"Odd, because I really don't know anyone…"

Rose grabbed a hand towel and tossed it at Orabelle, who caught it. "I'm coming too, disasters are fun to show off."

Alice shook her head as the girls trailed out of the kitchen, leaving a few chocolate footprints in their wake. She sighed and grabbed a mop that sat next to the two-way doors and made a mental note to hide the electric mixer.

As the two exited the kitchen, Orabelle began to giggle at Rose's new unibrow. Rose stole the towel from her and wiped it away, and then began to giggle at the chocolate freckles on Orabelle's face.

"Oh, what is _she_ doing here?"

Rose's giggles ceased to exist. Orabelle cleared the cake batter from her eyes to find Hoshi standing next to the entrance without her two tagalongs, a frown on her lips.

"You answer first." Rose replied, lacing her words with malice as she wiped clean part of her arms.

Orabelle sighed, saying "Oh Blowfish." under her breath. She was quickly getting tired of being in the middle of their fighting.

"Well for _your_ information, it's none of your business." Hoshi answered, glaring daggers. "And what were you doing, playing in the mud?"

"If I was, it's a lot cleaner than you."

Her eye twitched. Hoshi was about to start yelling, but stopped at the last second and ignored her for once. "Anyway, ignoring the trash, I was wondering if you would come shopping with me now, Arella-san. Obviously you'll need a shower first."

Orabelle scratched the back of her head, only succeeding in rubbing batter into her hair. "Um, well, I was kinda already trying to bake a cake or two..."

"Before or after the trash dumped it on you?"

Rose couldn't take it anymore. "Okay, you know what? Fuck you! Fuck you sideways with sandpaper and a shovel!" She yelled, before storming back off to the kitchen.

"Rude bitch." Hoshi scoffed. "Anyway, as I was saying-"

"Get out." Orabelle said, with the out-of-character tone of ice.

"What?"

"Get OUT." She repeated, colder than before. She could feel that knot in her stomach again, making her feel horrible, and she did her best to ignore it.

"Arella-san, what are you talking about?" Hoshi asked, stunned.

"Hoshi, I said _GET OUT_." Orabelle said again, raising her voice.

Hoshi blinked once, then turned around and opened the door. "Whatever." She said, leaving.

The second Hoshi was out of sight, Orabelle's knees became weak and she felt sick. She leaned against a table to keep from falling.

"What the Hell was that?" She asked to no one. "Ugh, I feel like I might vomit _again_…why do I feel so horrible? Like I want to break something?" She sighed. "It doesn't matter."

She went back to the kitchen, half-stumbling on her way there, and practically fell through the doors. Alice watched as the yellow princess caught her balance.

"Are you alright?" She asked concernedly, flipping her hair out of her eyes.

Orabelle pulled her own hair out of her eyes and swallowed a lump in her throat. "Yeah, I'm fine…where did Rose go?"

"I'm over here."

Orabelle crossed the kitchen to another counter in the back, over to Rose, who was cracking eggs onto a green, peppermint-smelling mixture. She kept her head down and did not look up when Orabelle came over.

"I'm sorry." She said.

"For what?" Rose asked. "You didn't do anything wrong."

"For not telling Hoshi to make like a scared cuttlefish and scram sooner. She's mean…"

Rose smirked slightly. "I think I told you that on your first day of school."

"Yeah, I think you did…" She replied thoughtfully. "Anyway, I told her to get out."

"R-really now?" Rose asked. Her voice cracked, and she immediately went quiet.

Orabelle tipped to the side, trying to see her face, but couldn't because pink pigtails blocked her view.

"Rose…are you crying?"

"No." She replied, wiping under her left eye with the back of her hand.

"You're crying."

Rose turned to face her. Yes, she had been crying. Her eyes were puffy and red, though her eye color made that hard to tell, her face was soaked in tears and the cake batter was cleared in streaks, starting under her eyes.

"Yeah, I'm crying." She said, wiping her eyes again. "It's just been kinda stressful is all. Plus, there's Hoshi…"

"Just ignore her; she's not worth your time."

"I know, I know." Rose replied, wiping her face again. "It's just hard when you have someone bitching at you multiple times a day for no reason other than they don't like you because you didn't let them bully you, or because of your friends…"

Orabelle tipped her head to the side again. "Wait, she's mean to you because of your friends?"

"Friend." Rose corrected. "Before you arrived, I only had one friend. And that was like, after a week."

"Why is she mean about Spencer? Is she jealous or something?"

She laughed. "No, that's not it. Remember what happened when we were at the mall? Well, for some reason, people are mean to geeks, or otaku, whatever the Japanese wanna call them. Spencer isn't like one of those creepy obsessive ones, but people like to pick on him because he'd rather stay home and watch sci-fi then go out and get turned down by girls. Anyway, because he's pretty much the school's butt monkey, people pick on him a lot, and I yelled at someone for it, then we became friends, and now Hoshi tries to bully me for being his only friend. But I'd rather be bullied for being friends with a nice person than be popular for being friends with world's biggest bitch."

Orabelle brushed her hair to the side. "Well, so would I." She replied, hugging Rose. "If you're trash, then I'm trash, and I'd rather be a trash princess that's happy than a popular princess who's miserable."

It was silent for a moment. Orabelle hadn't released Rose yet, but did so when Alice spoke up.

"Hey, you two!" She called from the other side of the kitchen. "I have your cake mess cleaned up, would you like to go wash it off yourselves before it stains, or melts and drips back on the floor? Well, I guess it would be stained by now, but still."

"Going!" Orabelle called back. Rose went to get her casual clothes and then the two went upstairs, jumped in the tub, turned back into mermaids and began washing the chocolate out of their hair.

…….

Okay, I don't know what that was, but I needed some filler until the next day. For any of you wondering, yes, they make a lot of sweets beforehand and no, Orabelle can't drive an electric mixer.

-NOTE: See the lack of honorifics when Orabelle yells at Hoshi? Yes, she was, in fact, being mean :D

RainbowDinos: Seems I have her beat up too much, doesn't it? Yeah, I'mma tone it down. She needs to get used to walking soon .____. And I'll assume you meant Maria when you were asking about the pearl. That's a no~

I need sleep, I'mma die if I don't go now. Bye bye! Review please, they make me write faster, and see you next time!

Next Chapter: *GASP* Maria's past? OH EM GEE.


	14. Between Purple and Blue

GASP! TWO chapters, in one week? THIS IS MADNESS.

NO, THIS IS SPARTAAAA- *shot dead* Okay, enough with the BS, to the chapter. Not as long as I wanted it, but it's good.

Ever notice the second I update, it gets buried in updates for other stories out of nowhere? Weird.

…….

"I'm going out!" Maria called, grabbing her umbrella and opening the front door to her mansion. "I'll be back before it gets dark."

"May I ask where you're going?" Her butler asked, moving a feather duster over a lamp near the door.

"Nowhere in particular." She lied. "Just a walk."

"I'll see you when you get back, then!" Shawn replied, waving the feather duster.

Maria stepped out, shut the door, opened her umbrella and gave a sigh. She didn't like lying, but she didn't want Shawn to know where she was going, either. Not because it would be a bad thing, but because the rest of the day would feel depressing.

She picked a flower from the yard and made her way out.

"For a Sunday, it's not sunny." She said to herself, twirling her umbrella as she left the property. "It's been raining a lot, though…odd."

Half an hour later, she came to a metal gate with a sign that said 'cemetery'. She opened the gate and entered, shutting it behind herself before she trekked through the yard. Eventually she came to a grave in the back, under a tree and away from the others, next to the ocean.

She sat down next to the headstone, put the flower down in front of it and closed her umbrella.

"I really hate coming here," Maria said, hugging her knees. "But I just can't stay away…I'd feel too bad…"

She sighed as she remembered the bad memories. There she was, ten years old, holding the phone. It fell from her hands, hitting the floor, along with several tears. She had just found out that her parents died in a car crash on their way home from picking up her birthday cake. She had known that they weren't her real parents since she was eight, as they looked nothing alike, but she didn't care, and it hurt just as much.

She also remembered being five years old, getting up at the middle of the night, crying and afraid to go to sleep because of the monsters behind the curtains.

"You said the monsters wouldn't get me." Maria said quietly, brushing her hair from her face. Tears began to well in her eyes, but she refused to cry again. "But you never did check behind the curtains…I knew they were too smart to hide in the closet and under the bed. They're after me again…but this time, they're real. They got me at school a few days ago, but I'm fine for now."

There was a moment of silence. A breeze came in that time, blowing her hair back in her eyes.

"Shawn doesn't know I'm a mermaid." She continued. "Did you know that? I know you knew. Someone else knows, too. There are two other mermaids at my school, and they have this friend with a French accent. He saw us fall in the pool. Apparently, mermaids are supposed to turn into bubbles if humans know they are mermaids. I never knew that. And those two mermaids are princesses, too. They said I'm also a princess. Did you know that? I didn't, but sometimes I think Shawn does."

There was another pause between her words. She picked the flower back up and twirled it between her fingers. It was a large white lily that had light-pink streaks on the inside of the petals. She looked at the flower before putting her arms over her knees, sending the flower out of sight.

"There's something else I should mention that I haven't." She said with a sigh. "I've been sick all the time since you two died. In fact, I have to take an umbrella with me all the time because too much sunlight makes me weak. That isn't normal, is it? I don't think so…and my birthday is coming up soon. We all know how depressing that'll be. I guess I should also mention that I've been held back a year in middle school because I missed all those days, but I'll be in the second year of high school when I graduate. I don't know why I'm mentioning all this now, maybe it's because of everything that's happened lately."

The faint twinkling of a music box could be heard as another breeze came through. Maria put the flower back and picked up a small wooden box from the side of the headstone. It had already been opened and the soft sound of a melody emitted from it.

"How does this still work?" She wondered, looking the box over. Through every season of the almost-six years it had sat there, the box looked brand new. "And how is it open and playing?"

She sat the box down and listened to the music. From what she remembered, it was supposed to play 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star', not whatever it was playing now.

_That sounds like the song the other two sang…_ She thought, staring at the box. It continued to play, one chime after another, until the melody ended and began again. She picked the music box back up, almost dropping it, and out fell a small, dark-blue sphere on her lap.

The music ceased to play when she sat the box back down. She picked up the tiny blue object, stared at it for a moment, and then pulled off her locket. The blue matched the shade of the pearl chains on her necklace.

She opened the locket and put the pearl in the empty center.

"Perfect fit…" She said quietly. The pearl flashed white for a split second and she closed the locket. "I must have left it here when I was ten. Come to think of it, I stopped wearing the necklace around ten, too…"

The low rumble of thunder interrupted her spoken thoughts. She glanced at the sky, finding that it had turned cloudy and gray. With a sigh, she put her necklace back on and grabbed her umbrella. She stood up, brushed her skirt off and opened the umbrella.

"I have to go now." She said. "It's going to rain _again_, and if there's wind, my umbrella stands no chance."

She turned around and went back through the graveyard, out the gate, and began on her way back home.

"Not to self." She said quietly as she walked down the street. "Talk to the other princesses tomorrow."

…….

"Good morning, everyone!" Orabelle exclaimed, spinning around once as she entered her classroom. All but two people were in, leaving three seats empty. She got a chorus of 'Good morning' back and several waves, and nothing from Hoshi in the back.

Rose came in next, doing the same step-and-turn movement Orabelle did, and stopping right next to her. "Hi, everyone! Hi, whiny Hoshi! Hi, jerky pervert who sits behind me!"

Several people laughed, a few more returned the hello, Umi rolled his eyes, Hoshi glared and the person who sat behind Rose frowned.

"Beautiful hello." Orabelle responded, trying to hold back laughter. "I've never heard one like that before, especially announced to everyone."

"Laugh already!" Rose exclaimed, suddenly tickling Orabelle's sides.

"Rose, stop that!" Orabelle yelled, laughing loudly. Rose pulled her hands away and put them behind her back.

"Right, I probably should. I don't know how many lesbian pillow fight daydreams I just started."

"…Excuse me?"

"Nothing!" She exclaimed, running to her seat by the window. Orabelle shrugged and went to her seat behind Umi, almost sliding off the chair.

Umi turned around and gave a quick look to her neck. "What's with the ribbon?"

"Absolutely nothing." She replied, giving the yellow ribbon not a second or even first thought as she tossed her hair back over her shoulders.

"Alice said she was as cute as a kitten, so she tied a ribbon there." Rose cut in, half-jokingly.

"No she didn't." Orabelle said, blushing slightly, but just enough for it to be noticed.

"Lies!" The pink princess exclaimed. "Raise your hand if you think Orabelle is cute! No, wait-wait! Attractive in any form!"

Orabelle's blush darkened. "Rose, what the Hell?" She asked, looking around the room. More than just a few people raised their hands, and when she looked straight ahead again, Umi was raising his hand. "Eeehhhh?"

"You're funny when you're red-faced." He said with a smirk.

Orabelle set her head on the desk, face-down, and put her arms around it. "You people…so much blushing might make my nose bleed again…"

"Good morning, everyone."

"Good morning!"

Orabelle lifted her head slightly, just enough to see Maria walk over to her desk and sit down. She set her head back on the desk, praying that her blush would go away.

_That shouldn't be embarrassing!_ She thought. _Everyone always let you know how you looked back home, so why is it so awkward now?_

"Good morning, class!"

"Good morning, Satomi-Sensei!"

In came the teacher with a smile on his face. Everyone instantly gave up their attention on anything else, facing forward if they were turning in their seats like Umi and quieted down.

"Excuse me, Arella-san?" The teacher said, almost giving her a sideways look. "I'm sorry, but it's impossible to burrow through the desk if you are going to use your head. Might I offer you a shovel?"

Orabelle sat up and fixed her hair once more. The blush was still apparent, but faded quickly as the school day when on.

…….

School let out several hours later. Rose and Orabelle left their classroom and they were on their way out before someone began calling Orabelle. She rolled her eyes and tried to ignore them.

Rose groaned. "It's who I think it is, isn't it?"

"It is." She replied. "Move quick, move quick-"

"Arella-san! Answer me already!"

Orabelle turned around to find Hoshi behind her. She frowned and said, "Leave me alone, Hoshi!" before continuing out of the school.

"Die in a ditch, Hoshi." Rose grumbled quietly. "Go screw yourself sideways, Hoshi. Leave us the Hell alone, Hoshi."

There it was, the school doors. Almost there, almost there…and then someone grabbed Orabelle's shoulder.

"Leave me alone!" She exclaimed, turning around. There stood not Hoshi, but the blue-haired Maria.

"Well, if you didn't want to talk…" She began, both looking and sounding as though she were about to burst into tears. "Did you have to yell, though?"

"I'm sorry!" Orabelle said sincerely. "Really, seriously, I'm really sorry! I didn't know it was you there, Hoshi doesn't like me and she was behind me and-"

"Belle!" Rose yelled, grabbing onto the yellow princess' shoulders and shaking her. "Calm down! Breathe!"

"You're rattling my brain cells!"

Rose let her go, and Orabelle pulled her hair out of her eyes. "Sufficiently rattled." She said.

"I'm dizzy now." Orabelle replied. She tightened the ribbon on her neck, as it had come loose while she was being shaken around, and then turned back to Maria. "Princess."

"About that…" Maria said, pulling her locket out from under the shirt of her school uniform. "I found the necklace, but it had no pearl. I found it yesterday though, and now I have no idea what to do with it."

"Awesome!" Rose said, giving her a double thumbs-up. "Orabelle, you're the leader-person, right? Explain it to the girl!"

Orabelle shushed her. There weren't many students still in the building, but she didn't want to take a chance and be overheard. She then turned to Maria again and said quietly, "You know the mermaid princess part, right? Well, because we have our own oceans each, we have to protect them-"

"Wait, oceans?" Maria interrupted. "I have an ocean?"

"Of course you do," Rose said. "And a castle, and your own color of mermaids, and a throne and crown, because after all, you're the princess of the Arctic, and a spegical power."

Orabelle gave her a look. "'Spegical'?"

"I went to say 'special magical', but it came out 'spegical'."

"Ah."

"Anyway, yes, you own your very own ocean."

"I didn't know that." Maria replied.

Both Rose and Orabelle gave her a confused look. "How could you not know that?" They both blurted out in a question.

"Don't think I'm too dumb, I've been on land as long as I can remember."

Their looks grew more puzzled, but Orabelle continued on. "Anyway, we have to protect the oceans. Aqua Marina, the Sea Goddess, has been kidnapped by someone called 'Pensato', and we need to rescue her. Pensato also kidnapped two other mermaids, and he's been sending water demons to attack us and bring us back. As odd as this sounds, we need to defeat him. Are you up for it?"

Maria paused for a moment to think, giving the other two a scare and leading them to think that she might say 'no'. She then gave a small smile and said "Yes."

And then the week after that, besides changing to their winter uniforms, the never-ending rain, and removing the stitches to find that Orabelle's neck didn't scar, nothing happened.

…….

And that's where I leave it for now. I tried, I tried so hard, but I just couldn't seem to think and make it longer/add more detail. Oh well. Next up, could it be, oh gasp, shipper fuel? No promises, but we'll see, maybe.

Thanks RHartRainbowDinos for the review, glad to see at least one person still reviewing.

Next chapter may be late'ish, I'm working on a website for this. Also, review and let me know whose idol-form you want to see now, and I'll leave a link on my profile page. Bye for now~!


	15. Sing A Song And Make Their Heads Blow Up

Question: Should I raise the rating on this from T to M? Rose cusses a LOT, so I have to ask.

And check out my profile page, if you click 'Home Page', you'll be brought to the Sparkling Waters website~! And someone said purple in the reviews, so I've also left a link there.

…….

"Borreddd." Rose whined as she skated down the street in her roller-skates. Light drops of rain pattered on her umbrella as she moved on slowly. It was Sunday, meaning that the café was closed for the day, leaving her with nothing to do.

Other than roller-skate in the rain, that is, and it probably wasn't the smartest idea.

"I wonder what Belle's doing…" She mumbled, then changed course for the café.

…….

While Rose was off skating, Orabelle was finishing her swim at the beach. She swam over to the large pile of rocks and pulled herself out of the water, sitting down on one of the larger ones.

"Does it only rain?" She wondered aloud, staring at the sky. Once again, it was a grey overcast, and it was raining, but not too heavily.

She pulled her wet, long golden hair back and pulled her tail forward, hugging it as if it was a pair of knees. _I kind of want to go home. _She thought, staring out into the dark horizon. _But then again, it's only been a few weeks. There's already two princesses found, so maybe this'll be done quick where we could all go back to our kingdoms…_

"What are you thinking of?"

"Just home."

She froze the second those words came out her lips. Just who did she answer, why did she answer, and how much trouble was she going to be in?

Startled, she jumped slightly and let out a small cry, looking down the rock to see who was there. And for the third time being seen as a mermaid, it was Umi again.

"Sorry if I scared you." He apologized. "I just seen you get out of the water and instantly go so deep into though that I had to ask."

"Are you following me?" She asked, nearly slipping off the rock. Being seen once or twice wasn't going to hurt, but this was the third time, and if he kept find her in mermaid form, there was going to be a problem.

"Excuse me?" He said, lifting an eyebrow. "I'm not going around telling people to 'search for me'."

"I didn't think you would!" She exclaimed, throwing her arms up. Once again, she couldn't tell if they were arguing. "But honestly, humans shouldn't be out in the rain, looking for mermaids who don't want to be found! That's stupid!"

Before Umi could reply to that, something shot out of the water, wrapping itself around Orabelle's wrists, neck and stomach, pinning her to the rock behind her.

"Get away from here." She choked out, trying to grab at her shell pendant.

"You aren't going anywhere." Someone said. Both Layla and Amber emerged from the water on a controlled wave, standing back-to-back with their arms crossed.

"What the…" Umi began to say, trailing off as the two water demon began glaring daggers at the princess.

"Long time no see." Layla said, frowning. "I wonder where your friend is."

"Sorry to interrupt you," Amber quipped sarcastically. "But we just _had_ to ask you about that necklace. Would you mind if we took it and maybe you too?"

"And who's your human friend? Or is he even human in the first place?"

Amber shook her finger. "Oh, bad princess. I wonder what your kingdom would think if they knew you were off playing with humans instead of losing to us?"

"Umi…leave." Orabelle said, almost out of air. She didn't bother to say 'yellow pearl voice', instead just transformed without it. There was a flash of rainbow light, and then it quickly vanished into the air, leaving Orabelle clad in her idol form. The bonds of what looked to be half-frozen water loosened just slightly, just enough for her to maneuver the microphone in her right hand closer to her face.

Before Umi had the chance to do as he was told and quickly leave, Amber manipulated three more restraints of half-frozen, glass-like water that came out of the ocean and pinned him against one of the large rocks.

Layla carelessly jumped from the wave, onto one of the thick icy water strands, and without slipping off or falling through, walked across it and jumped off into the sand. She then walked up to Umi and flicked a strand of hair out of his face, just to annoy him.

"Cute, defiantly," She said, leaning up against the same rock. "But in our way. Tell me, human boy, what is your business with a mermaid princess?"

Something about that sentence made Orabelle's heart thump loudly in her ears. It wasn't the kind of thump on would get when smitten with someone, but the kind one would get when they suddenly became very angry.

"Princess…?" Umi said confusedly. He cut off that thought and quickly went defensive. "I don't think I should be talking to hagfish. I mean, for one, you probably aren't intelligent to finish a conversation and two, you smell bad."

Amber scoffed at him and Layla's eye twitched. Clearly she was annoyed and did something to the water restraints, because the second her eye twitched, the water inside the ice casing began to boil. A moment later it was scolding hot, burning Umi's wrists before Amber changed the temperature back to freezing.

"Ow…"

Something in the back of Orabelle's mind snapped. There was an earsplitting sound, making the two water demons cover their ears. The ice-encased water shattered, freeing the two, and Amber's wave vanished, dropping her back in the ocean. Orabelle jumped down, crash-landing as her knees and ankles couldn't take the sudden pressure, and grabbed Umi's hand. She jumped back to her feet and sprinted for the other end of the beach.

"What's going on?" Umi asked, barely able to keep up with her.

She didn't answer, instead she kept running. Eventually she could hear Layla and Amber in the water behind them. She increased her speed, somehow unaffected by Umi's stumbling.

"How did you know my name?"

Still ignoring his questions, she ran into a cave that _was_ on the very far end of the beach, but was now right in front of her. She didn't stop to act surprised at the mile she just somehow ran or to fumble and trip over anything on the cave's floor. She ran deeper in, still ignoring the questions, until they surprisingly came out the other end.

They had managed to somehow make it to an undisturbed part of the beach. It probably wasn't the same one they started out on, and it looked as though it had been untouched for far more than just a few years. It could not be seen from the roads or any of the upper land, making it painfully obvious it was a hidden beach. Seashells littered the sand around the water and several extremely large piles of rocks were placed randomly around. There were tide pools around the more miniscule groups of rocks, filled with small aquatic life forms.

"Would you tell me what's going on already?" Umi exclaimed, finally pulling his hand free from Orabelle's, which he had somehow not managed to do while they were running.

Orabelle coughed a few times before answering. "Those were sea demons." She said, coughing again.

"_And_?"

"_And_, I'm not exactly sure, but I think they want to imprison us for the rest of our lives. Or at least, imprison me."

"Well then why are they after me?"

"Because you were around me!" Orabelle exclaimed. "Now do you see why I shouldn't be found? And it isn't _all_ my fault, you gave them trouble and didn't leave when I told you!"

"Oh, well, _excuse me_, Princess! I was pinned to a rock!"

"Before that!"

"Rock!"

"BEFORE THAT!"

"_ROCK_!"

"UUGHHH!"

Frustrated, Orabelle threw her microphone to the ground and grabbed at her hair, pulling it. This was not how she wanted to spend the day. It was raining, cold, sea demons were attacking and she was stuck with who she considered to be an idiot right now.

Umi brushed his hair out of his eyes and put a hand on his hand. "Nice scream. I think you gave me a headache when we escaped."

"Enjoy it." Orabelle replied bitterly, pulling her fingers from her hair. "Because it's going to last for a while."

"Why do you have a microphone, anyway?"

"I honestly don't know!" She yelled. "But the second you make fun of my singing power is the second I shatter your ear drums!"

"Well FINE!" He exclaimed, throwing his arms up. His wrists jerked, irritating the burns further and making him regret that action.

Besides the sound of the two breathing heavily, the pattering of rain and the rolling of waves, the beach was silent.

Orabelle sighed. _This is going NOWHERE!_ She thought. _Could there be any more problems?_

"How did you know my name?" Umi asked, finally breaking the silence.

"I never said I knew it." She replied, wiping rain off her cheeks. _Oh Hell…_

"But you said it." He said, frowning slightly. "Don't you remember, five minutes ago?"

"Memory of a fish." She lied. "It only has like, three seconds of memory. Not even mermaids can stay on a fish's mind."

"Then how did you remember me?"

She paused for a moment, trying to think it through, but couldn't come up with anything. "Look, I'm not good with questions." She answered. "People bombard me with them and my answer is 'no'. I might have heard if from another mermaid because you're always at the beach, but you are not allowed to go looking for her. See the trouble you're in because you went after me?"

"Yeah, because I'm an idiot." He said, making it clear he was annoyed with her.

She didn't like that at all. "If you're such an idiot, don't talk to me. Unintelligence makes my head hurt and you'll have a hard time convincing me otherwise."

…_Oops._

Umi frowned and was quiet for a moment. "Are all mermaids as rude?"

_Oh great, keep screwing up, Orabelle. At least Rose isn't here, she'd be even ruder…_ "Some more so than others."

He sighed. "If we're just going to stand here and argue, could you at least tell me your name? You already know mine."

"Um…" _Damn it!_ Orabelle thought. _I can't tell him my name, he'll figure it out and I'll turn into bubbles! Belle, I'll be Belle-no! Rose calls me that! Um, um, um…!_ "It's Bella." She lied.

_BELLA? Seriously, BELLA? This is why I don't lie! I hate it when people screw my name up and call me 'Orabella', so why would I tell anyone to call me Bella? IDIOT!_

…….

"Hey! Maria!"

The blue-haired girl lifted her head and looked across the street. There on the other side was Rose, rolling slowly down the sidewalk and waving to her. Maria made sure that no cars were coming before crossing the road to Rose.

"What's up?" She asked.

"Nothing, really." Maria replied, instantly deciding not to tell Rose she was coming back from a cemetery. "I would say the constant rain, but it's going down, not up."

"I didn't mean literally."

"I know."

"Sooo…what are you doing?"

"Walking."

Rose reached back and flicked one of her pigtails. "Still literal."

"Sorry…" Maria replied, turning her umbrella. "I'm not sure if you've noticed, but I don't really talk to anyone."

Rose bit her bottom lip. "I'd have to be blind and deaf not to notice."

"It's really that bad?" She asked. Rose shook her head. "Oh…well, um, what are you doing?"

She smiled. "I am going to go bother Orabelle. Care to join me?"

"It's either that or I stay home for the rest of the day."

"Okay!" Rose exclaimed. "We'll check the café first, and if she isn't there, we're checking the beach. If we still can't find her, we'll go bother Spencer instead."

"O-okay…"

…….

"Alright then, Bella, what do we do?"

Orabelle scratched the back of her head. "Well, normally I'd sing a song and make their heads blow up, but I can't do that right now."

"_Sing a song and make their heads blow up_? Are you _serious_ about that?"

She shook her head. "Look, I'm a mermaid; do I ask the gods how that works? No, I don't, which means you shouldn't either, because I'm not a god and I don't know, and the gods probably don't either."

"Alrighty then." Umi said tiredly. "Still, what do we do?"

Orabelle turned around and looked out to the ocean. She frowned and grabbed Umi's hand again. "We run!"

"Again?" He exclaimed before getting dragged along once more.

Behind them, Amber and Layla had been catching up. Amber made the ocean waves more violent, hoping to have one drag the princess in as she ran away.

"Can't you just sing your song thing?" Umi exclaimed, almost tripping.

"I can't! Not right now!" She replied, trying to move faster but Umi's constant tripping began to slow her down.

"WHY? Those things want to pretty much kill us, don't they?"

"I CAN'T!" She yelled, stopping dead in her tracks. Umi fell to the ground from the sudden lack of movement, but quickly stood back up. "I would if I could, but I can't!"

"Why not?" Umi asked, grabbing her shoulders.

She slapped him.

He let go of her shoulders and put a hand on his face, right where she slapped him, completely astonished.

"It's because I'm useless!" She yelled, looking to the ground. "I can't do anything! I haven't been able to and your keep yelling at me, but I still can't do anything!"

"Why did you slap me?"

She lifted her head. Tears accompanied the raindrops running down her face. "I c-can't," She sobbed. "All I've been able to do so far is get hurt, and when I screamed to get us free, I found that my throat's still messed up. If I can't sing properly, I don't think I can defeat them, so all we can do is run. Stop yelling at me about it, please…"

He looked back to see Amber and Layla catching up dangerously close to them. He took Orabelle's hand and said, "If we have to run, then we have to run. Which we should be doing _now_."

"But there's the thing, we can't beat them if we just keep running…and I don't want to run anymore, either."

Umi bit his lip. _How do people deal with crying women?_

By now Layla and Amber were right beside them in the ocean, standing on a large frozen wave. Amber smirked.

"Are you surrendering?"

"Looks like we have it easy for once!" Layla exclaimed with joy.

Umi picked up a small rock and threw it at them. "Would you go away already?"

"Brat!" Layla yelled. The ice around her feet began to melt, and then freeze up again.

"Stop steaming, you're melting this thing." Amber said, flicking her ear. More ropes of water shot out of the ocean and knocked Umi down, pinning him to the ground.

"He's a real prince charming." Layla commented rudely. "The Princess there sure has bad taste in men, and maybe people in general."

"Bella, just run!" Umi said, trying but was unable to pull his face out of the sand. "It's you they're after, not me!"

Instead of running, instead of singing, instead of even thinking about calling for help, she put her hands on her head, tangling her finger between tresses of golden hair. Her face looked a bit like a waterfall from all the tears.

"My head hurts." She said, her voice trembling and her body shaking. "Why does it hurt?"

Layla rolled her eyes. "Oh, shut up, you stupid fish."

"That's as bad as a 'catch of the day' joke." Amber quipped, crossing her arms. "If all you can do is call them 'stupid', then you aren't any better than them. Originality is what separates you from the others, moron."

"Oh, shut up."

Amber ignored her. "Right then, let's make this fast."

For the fourth time that day, more ice-encased water ropes shot out of the sea and headed straight for Orabelle. By this time her face had grown red-hot and sweat was rolling down her forehead, even thought it was cold out. Before the ice could reach her, she brought her microphone down and screamed as loud as she could into it.

The ice broke and the water demons covered their ears before falling back into the ocean. A shockwave-like ring came off of the yellow princess, shaking the earth around her. Along with that wave went a flash of rainbow light, turning her back into a human. She fell down into the sand, unconscious.

…….

"I just thought of something." Rose said, leaning on the front wheels of her skates.

"What's that?" Maria asked.

"You know, you've never told me or Orabelle anything about you."

She bit the inside of her mouth. "What's to tell? It's probably not important, anyway."

"Oh, come on!" Rose exclaimed quietly. "Orabelle's told you everything, I've told you everything, well, about being on land anyway, but you've never said anything."

Maria blushed slightly. "Didn't I already mention that I'm not good when it comes to talking to people?"

"Well, you did." She replied, blowing her hair to the side and out of her eyes. "But I'm harder to open up than a cold clam that's been steel-wielded shut, but _I've_ said everything, and that's what's bugging me."

Maria was quiet from a moment as she brushed her bangs back. "Um…well, keep in mind that I c-can't remember everything…"

"Yeah?"

"W-well-"

The mermaid princess was cut off by a sudden violent shake from the ground that lasted all of one second. The girls fell down to the wet ground in a heap.

"The Hell was that?" Rose yelled, trying to get up as fast as she could. Along with Maria, her hair had quickly grown longer and lighter in color. Their legs had become scaly, with Rose's turning pink and Maria's turning indigo.

"I don't know!" Maria replied, grabbing her umbrella and standing up. "Why are our necklaces shining?"

Rose looked down. Sure enough, their necklaces were emitting light of their own colors. She grabbed her umbrella off the ground to prevent further rainfall, and then gave Maria a serious look. "Orabelle must be in trouble. Come on, follow the light! If it gets brighter, we're going the right way!"

The two began running, in Rose's case skating, as fast as they could. They neared the beach and the shell-light started to die down.

"What's wrong with this thing?" Rose wondered, tapping the locket.

"It was brighter a moment ago." Maria said, looking at her own.

Rose ran down to the beach and Maria followed her. She untied her roller-skates and pulled them off, tossed her umbrella to the ground and jumped into the water. Maria folder hers shut and left it with Rose's before jumping in.

There were two flashes of rainbow light, and then the girls began swimming at speeds only a mermaid could do.

"Where are we going?" Maria asked, surprised she could talk and be heard underwater.

The pink mermaid turned right. "This way!" She said, giving her tail a kick for a burst of speed.

Amber and Layla stepped out of the water, with Amber freezing anything she went near and Layla sending everything into a scolding-hot meltdown.

"These mermaids are _really_ pissing me off." Layla said angrily, turning sand into a glass-like substance as she walked.

"Aww!" Amber said sarcastically. "Look! Our little mermaid's passed out! And what's this? She's a human? One would think mermaid because of all the rain water."

"Forget that." Layla responded, somehow setting a seashell on fire. "Let's just grab the brat and leave the dumb air-breather behind."

"I thought we had no intension of bringing the air-breather. What were you going to do, anyway?"

"Nothing, just make her think I've done something. Haven't you tried getting under a fish's scales before?"

Amber rolled her eyes. _Not all of us are that petty._

"What the Hell is up, everyone?"

They turned from Orabelle, who had just turned back into a mermaid from the rain, to the ocean. Rose and Maria were sitting in the sand, wringing their hair out as the waves played with the pearl loops on their tails. Rose obviously asked the question from the look she was giving them.

"There's a third?" Amber said with surprised. "Three in one spot? That has to be a record."

"Whatever it is, it makes it easier for us!" Layla exclaimed.

Rose shot them another dirty, sarcastic look. "You two are really big idiots…okay then Maria, let's go!"

"What do I do?" She asked, suddenly panicking.

"Just follow my lead here, and remember that you want to transform! Pink pearl voice!"

Maria watched the rainbow light surround Rose. "I'm not sure what I'm doing, but…Indigo pearl voice!"

It was her turn to be covered in rainbow light, only for it to vanish a moment later. She was now wearing flat, almost-white boots with very light-pale indigo cuffs, matching her gloves, and a pale-blue tube-dress with a swirled almost-white belt at the top.

"What was that?" She asked, immediately noting her loss of tail and the microphone in her hand.

"Ignore it; it's just about show time." Rose replied. She then turned her attention to the water demons. "What did you do to Orabelle?"

Layla scoffed. "As if we'd tell you."

Maria tugged on one of her light-pink pigtails.

"Yeah?"

"Isn't that Umi?" She whispered, pointing to him. Thanks to being in the center of the sound-shockwave, he was unconscious.

Rose shook her head. "I don't like where this is going." She said as the Live Stage lit up around them. "Sing with me."

"I'm not sure I can sing," Maria said shyly, tracing her fingers around the microphone. "But I'll try, even if I don't know the lyrics."

"You'll know them." Rose replied with a smile. Music began to play.

Maria smiled back and together they said, "Pichi Pichi Voice Live Start!"

"_Nanairo no kaze ni fukarete"_

" _Tooi misaki wo mezashiteta_"

"_Yoake mae kikoeta MERODI_

"_Sore wa totemo natsukashii uta_

Amber and Layla covered their ears, screaming in pain at the mermaid's song. Strangely again, the rain began to calm and nearly stop.

"_Higashi no sora e to habataku toritachi_

"_Saa, takarajima ni nukeru chikamichi_

"_Nanatsu no umi no rakuen_"

"_Arashi no yoru no ato ni wa_"

"_Ai wo tsutaerutame inochi ga mata umareru_

"_Nanatsu no kuni no MERODIA_

"_Daremo ga itsuka wa koko wo tabidatsu hi ga kitemo_

"_Watashi wa wasurenai~"_

"Pretty Dream Pitch!" They both said, pointing at the sea demons. "How about an encore?"

"Learn a new song! That one sucks!" Amber yelled, vanishing from where she stood.

"We should have left earlier!" Layla added. "Then we would have been able to get you a bad review sooner!"

Layla vanished and Rose rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Yeah yeah, everyone's a critic, what the fuck ever."

Maria walked over to Orabelle as the Live Stage vanished. Rose followed her, flicking her bangs to the side in annoyance.

"She's burning." Maria commented, touching one of the yellow mermaid's cheeks as she crouched down. "I can feel it through my glove."

"That's not good…" Rose said, somewhat pensively. "Fevers mean big trouble for mermaids."

Maria frowned. "That sorts out one of my problems…"

"C'mon, let's get her out of here." Rose picked up the yellow princess, struggling a bit with her tail. "He wasn't lying, these things actually _are_ heavy. Either that or just hard to hold because they're big."

Maria stood back up and gave the brown-haired boy a look. "What about Umi?"

Rose made a face. "Yeaahh, uhh…um, well, we could either leave him here and let him get back himself, or we could try to wake him up and let him see us in idol-form."

"It wouldn't matter now, would it?" She asked. "Orabelle was here, and we found her as a mermaid. Who knows what else he might have seen."

Rose sighed. "Fine, I guess you're right. Go try and wake him up, my hands are kinda full."

"On it," Maria replied. She walked over to Umi and kneeled down next to him, then shook his shoulder. "Um…please wake up…?"

Rose shook her head slightly. _Poor girl's so shy and clueless._ She though. She stepped up next to her and tapped Umi with one of her boots. "Hey you, get up."

Maria glanced up and gave her a look. "'Hey you'?"

"Well, what else am I supposed to say?" Rose asked, giving a poor attempt at a shrug. "Besides, we've got a sick mermaid, so we should be moving fast."

Maria stood back up and sighed. "Okay, okay, you're right." She said. "I'll feel bad about it, but we are going to have to leave him here."

The girls left for the ocean. Just as they jumped in, transforming back into mermaids, Umi awoke. He sat up and rubbed his head, catching a glimpse of two different-colored sets of fins before they disappeared.

…….

Yeah yeah, I know what you're thinking, "Something else is wrong with Orabelle? YOU'RE HORRIBLE ;;" shut up :U I actually know where I'm going with this. (For once. GASP!)

At Mo12341234: Thanks you!

So yeah, probably only one person will do it anyway and everyone will ignore this bit, but review please?


	16. Let's Argue

OKAY NEXT CHAPTER. Not as long, but yeah, it gets what it needs done.

At LNLestrangexx: That's my fault ^^; Trust me, I know what goes on in M. That's some stuff NO ONE should read XD And Nagisa's only a year younger than Hanon. And my favorite's Noel~ Thanks!

At Misha12: Well, I'm not sure, but Hippo said it himself in the last chapter of the manga.

At FlyingSquirrelOfDarkness: The day I stop updating is the day I die :D

Thanks for the reviews, everyone!

….

"Orabelle," Rose said, tapping the side of her face. "Come on, wake up already."

Nothing.

"Is she still out?" Maria asked, walking into Orabelle's room with a few towels. Her skirt swished from side to side with every step she took, flicking tiny drops of water off. As it had still been raining, making it impossible to dry off, they had to walk to Sucre Rêves in their idol forms and they had to be exceedingly careful bringing Orabelle, because she was still in mermaid form.

"Yeah," Rose replied, putting a hand on her cheek. She frowned at the wet glove. "Toss me one of those towels."

Maria took the first towel off the stack she was carrying, a fluffy white one, and handed it over to Rose. It wasn't exactly 'toss', but that didn't matter.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome." She replied, sitting down on the floor next to Rose. She set the towels down and began drying her hair with a yellow one. "How long do you think she will sleep?"

"I don't know," Rose said, drying her long gloves. It looked almost as though she was scrubbing instead of drying. "I've never been sick before, and I've never had a fever. I guess it'll be a while though, because that's one Hell of a temperature. And, well, not to be rude, but you're always sick, right?"

Maria dried her face. "Yes." She answered with a slight touch of unintentional annoyance in her tone. _Please don't remind me._

Rose bit her bottom lip. _Crap, might've hit a nerve._ "If it's ever happened, how long have you been out?"

"Well, considering what this is me, usually days at a time."

"…Days?"

"Days."

Rose moaned. "Why does it have to be days?"

"Excuse me," Maria said, interrupting Rose from making any further complaints. "I've been sick since my pearl went missing. Now that I have it back, it might not be days."

Rose paused for a moment, and then smacked her own forehead. "I completely forgot about that!"

Maria gave her a somewhat-perplexed look. She didn't know why Rose smacked her forehead, and she wasn't going to ask, because the pink-haired girl confused her enough.

She finished drying her blue hair before moving on to the dripping-wet fabric of her dress.

"Now considering those circumstances, we really don't know where it this is going." Rose continued, taking her towel and laying it around her neck. "I guess maybe just one day, or a few hours if we're lucky. Ugh, that's why mermaids should be unaffected by human viruses…"

Maria was only half-listening as she finished drying her dress. The sudden sound of a door creaking open nearly made her jump out of her skin.

"Orabelle-hime, are you here?" Alice called down the hall. "You left the front doors unlocked."

"Alice is back." Rose said, jumping to her feet. Maria stood up and followed her out into the hall, also setting her towel around her shoulders, to find a young blonde-haired woman wearing jeans and a yellow tank-top.

A puzzled look crossed Alice's face. "Who are you?" She asked, pointing at Maria. "Why are you both in idol-form and what's going on?"

"That's Maria." Rose answered, pointing at her briefly with her thumb. "There's a bit of a rain problem, you can figure that out, and we've got a problem."

"What's the problem?"

"Orabelle's sick."

Alice frowned. "Ooohhh no." She said worriedly. "Oh no, this is bad…"

Rose made a face, pulling her bottom lip down. "Yeah, noticed."

"The problems keep on coming." Alice sighed, running her fingers through her bangs. "Okay, you two go get dried before you also get sick. There isn't much we can do for Orabelle because mermaids have negative reactions to most human medicine. The most we can do is wrap her in blankets and let her sleep. Is she awake now?"

"No."

A flash of rainbow came out of Orabelle's room, alerting everyone in the hall that she had changed back to human form.

….

"Where am I?"

Orabelle took a step forward and there was a soft sound of water splashing. She looked down. Yes, there was water; it came up to her ankles. For some reason, she wasn't wearing shoes, even though the water was chilly.

"Water?"

She turned around and then forward. The only thing she could see was water, and everything else was a black abyss of nothing.

"Oh, come on!" She exclaimed, looking up to still see only black. "I've been here forever and it's making my head hurt even more! If I'm going to be stuck in some weird nostalgic land then at least make a point of it or let me wake up!"

Silence.

"Who are you yelling at?"

"AH!"

Down she fell, landing in the water with a loud 'thud' and a 'splash'. Now wet up to her elbows, she screamed in frustration. "What the Hell is going on?"

"Have some patience now, you're a princess."

Orabelle frowned. This was her mind, wasn't it? So who could possibly be talking to her?

In front of her appeared Aqua Marina looking tired as ever. Her dress was dirty and she had dark rings under her eyes, but somehow she still looked as radiant as she did on Orabelle's thirteenth birthday.

"Why am I dreaming of you?" Orabelle wondered aloud. It wasn't unusual for a mermaid to dream of the marine world's one and only goddess, but something didn't exactly feel right about this.

"You aren't dreaming, this is your mind." She said. She then poked the yellow princess' nose. "And you've got the flu."

"The flu?" Orabelle whined. "I don't wanna have the flu; I didn't even know I'm sick. And I would've imagined it cushier…"

"Yes, the flu, you didn't notice the fatigue and the bodily pain? And I said 'mind', not 'imagination'-"

Orabelle cut her off. "I don't like my mind then."

"It's not right because _you _aren't right, at the moment." Aqua Marina responded, almost forgetting to add the last three words due to her annoyance of being cut off. "Anyway, there is something import-"

"How was I supposed to know?" Orabelle cut her off again. She wasn't feeling well and that was extremely apparent in her behavior. "For all I know, it could be normal for a human."

"It is," Marina said plainly, but not before smacking Orabelle lightly over the head with her scepter. "Humans, females, once a month, you'll find out if you stay in human form too long. Now can I finish what I was saying?"

Orabelle rubbed her head. _Just what I need with a pressure headache, _She seethed in a sarcastic thought. _That did an amazing amount of help._ "Fine." She answered agitatedly.

"Oh, now no one wants to listen to me ramble…"

….

Maria stood with her back against the wall outside Orabelle's room. She was second to revert to her human form, back into her white knee-boots and her blue and white outfit, which consisted of a longer-than-average white miniskirt, a pale-indigo spaghetti-strap shirt and an elbow-length, soft white jacket that possessed only one button at the top.

She looked over to the pink princess, who was still in her idol form, long pink pigtails dripping water and the towel around her shoulders. "Aren't you going to dry off?" She asked shyly.

"Not right now." Rose replied, clearly lacking in emotion. She put one of her boots against the wall and let the other slide out a bit on the carpet where only her upper back and head touched the wall. She brought her hands back between the wall and her spine, one gloved hand over the other.

Maria looked at the princess, turning her head. The look in her amber-brown eyes asked a silent 'why?'.

"Kinda worried," Rose replied, slightly glancing to the side to see what Maria was doing and catching the silent question. She stared up at the ceiling. "Fevers and mermaids don't mix, and even the thought of it scares me."

"R-really?" Maria stuttered shyly. It wasn't that she was embarrassed at all or anything like that, she was just nervous as she barely talked to anyone. Her shyness almost reached crippling levels. "Because, from what I hear Orabelle say…she talks like you're fearless."

Rose gave an amused smirk. "Fearless?" She asked. "Of humans and mermaids, maybe, of anything else, no. I can tell you spiders freak me out, but maybe that's because I woke up one morning with a large fuzzy one on my shoulder. Didn't move for hours."

Maria cringed slightly. The thought of something fuzzy, spider or otherwise on her skin disgusted and crept her out.

"So," The pink princess continued. "You never answered my question."

"What question?"

Rose tried to blow her wet bangs from her face with a puff of air from her lungs. Suffice to say it failed. "What you're all about. Earlier this morning, remember?"

Maria's face returned to that toasty 'keep warm' setting, making her blush light-red as it did when she talked to people.

"That wasn't a question, actually."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Please, humor me."

Maria was silent for a moment. It wasn't that she didn't want to; she was just shy to and didn't know how to start. Finally, she swallowed the growing lump in her throat and said something. "Um, well…I don't know how I arrived on land, if you are wondering. All I remember is spending eight years in France before moving to Japan. An incredibly wealthy couple adopted me, but…they're gone now, and I live alone with the butler."

Rose bit her lip. She didn't know what to say to that, and luckily she didn't have to. Alice emerged from Orabelle's room with a thermometer reading the temperature of one-hundred and two point three. Noticing Rose's dripping hair, she grabbed the towel from about the girl's neck and started rubbing the top of her head with it.

"Hey!" Rose exclaimed, throwing her arms up. "That hurts! You're digging my hair-shells into my head!"

"You're dripping on the carpet." Alice said simply, continuing to dry Rose's hair. "I don't want it to mold or you to get sick."

"Okay, okay!" Rose exclaimed. One flash of rainbow light and sparkles later and she was back in her human form, wearing almost-white pink pants with several stars made of white rhinestones and a shirt that looked like two, with most of her arm sleeves having white and light-pink stripes and the rest being of a darker shade of pink with a white star in the upper-middle of the shirt.

"So...is it bad?" Maria asked, watching as Rose snatched the wet towel from Alice.

Alice shook the thermometer a bit. "One-hundred and two point three." She said hesitantly. "It's bad."

Maria stared at the floor. "Nothing can be done until she wakes up."

….

"I didn't say that." Orabelle sighed.

"Then can I continue?"

"YES!" Orabelle cried, falling back into the water. Now completely wet and frustrated, Orabelle decided she wasn't going to talk to Aqua Marina, no matter how many times she asked a question and no matter how childish it was.

"Well then," She responded in an almost-sour manner. "It took me a while to find her without getting caught. The orange princess is somewhere south. That's all I know, unfortunately my power is still drained. Something has lightened it, though, but I haven't the slightest clue what."

_Maria._ Orabelle thought. _She has her pearl back._

Not getting a response, she continued. "I still don't know where the purple princess is, you will have to find her by yourself. There's someone else you'll have to find, too…"

Still no response. Aqua Marina continued again, annoyed at the silence from the one princess she was able to contact.

"His name is Amir," She said with what looked like a pang of grief. "He's around your age, light brown hair, eyes that look purple…he may be able to help you. There's one last thing before I go that you have to know. Don't you want to know what it is?"

Orabelle thought about it briefly. She did indeed want to know what it was, but she still didn't want to say anything. Eventually she begrudgingly grumbled out a "Yes."

"This all started in the Indian Ocean."

Orabelle bit her lip. From what she had learned in her princess history lessons, disaster in the sea _always_ had something to do with the Orange Princess. Intentional or not, trouble always seemed to hang around them, and if not, the Indian Ocean.

Just before she vanished, a small light the color of Orabelle's pearl shined out her locket. At the same time it vanished, the Sea Goddess was gone.

Tired as she was, Orabelle still rose back to her feet and concentrated as hard as she could on her next action.

"I want to wake up."

….

"I should be getting home." Maria said, looking out the doors to see an almost-black sky. It had been several hours after bringing Orabelle back, and she still hadn't woke up. Maria was now downstairs with Rose and Alice, and she had just finished explaining in minimal detail most of the major events of her life.

"See you at school." Rose replied, giving a small wave as the blue-haired girl opened one of the doors, and then her umbrella.

"Goodbye, Hime-sama!" Alice called. Maria gave them a small wave as she left the building.

Rose yawned slightly. "I should be going to, the creepers come out when it's dark," She said, standing out of her chair. "Let me know if Orabelle's awake in the morning?"

Alice smiled. "Of course I will, Rose-hime. Goodbye."

"Bye, Alice!"

….

The next morning, Orabelle still wasn't awake. Rose was on her way to school, playing with the buttons on her pink cell phone before she nearly tripped over Spencer due to not watching where she was going.

"…And then you would have landed in the mud and ruined your little princess face."

"I know, I know," Rose complained as Spencer went on about the dangers of walking blind. "And then I'd have to get plastic surgery, and then glasses, and then spend all day playing World of Warcraft."

"I do _not_ play World of Warcraft!"

Rose gave him a puzzled look. "Then what is it you do if it isn't playing that life-wasting game people obsess over?"

"Watch old episodes of Doctor Who."

Rose ignored his answer when she saw Maria leaving her limo. "Hey Maria!" She called, dragging Spencer behind her she ran up to girl.

Maria froze as her limo drove away. _No no no, she is NOT bringing a boy over here!_ She thought worriedly. Yesterday's light blush returned to her face. _I'm already bad enough at talking to girls! Rose, please no-_

"Have you heard anything about Orabelle yet?" She asked as she stopped by the princess. "I haven't heard anything, so I think she's still out."

"Wait, something happened?"

Rose brushed off his question. "Mermaid stuff."

"Can I even ask?"

She rolled her eyes. She was not good at, nor did she want to, explain. "Sick mermaid, serious shit, all that stuff."

"I haven't heard anything yet." Maria responded. In the times Rose had taken to talking with Spencer, Maria's eyes had sunk to the ground. "Maybe we should go check after school?"

"I planned on that, beside, work and all that other shit…" Rose lifted Maria's head and took her hand, and then Spencer's. "You two haven't met properly yet, have you?"

Neither said anything. _Awkward._ Rose though. She put their hands together.

"Spencer, Maria. Maria, Spencer." She said, letting them go. Instantly Maria's face turned bright red and Spencer blushed slightly. The school bell rang and Rose jumped back. "Okay, you two play nice, I've got class!"

"Nice you meet you," Maria said shyly, taking her hand back. "But I have class too...Rose, wait for me!"

Maria followed the pink-haired princess into the school. Spencer rolled his eyes. _Girls._ He thought, leaving his spot for class also.

….

Doctor Who reference for the win, it returned to TV today 3 (Well at least in the UK, but I have ways. –is in America orz-)

Got a question for y'all, I know the manga does it too, but why do most new mermaid fics have the princess with a Japanese name, even though she isn't Japanese? That confuses me.

Up next: Will it be a chapter without Orabelle? I dunno, I haven't started it :U Keep reviewing everyone, and don't forget to check the site! Also, one last bit here, I said I would, so I'm pimping Pearl Waters. Along with my site C-box, I'm always on there, and were's looking for roleplayers! www dot pearlwaters dot cambribus-magister dot net/index dot php, kill the spaces and change the 'dots' to '.'!

Happy Easter!


	17. Invites And Ice

Wooo! The new Doctor Who episode was on today and I got a chapter up (late, but it counts)! That's two chapters in two weeks, maybe I'm forming a once-a-week schedule?

To Misha12: You know what it is, you can have anything you damn well want.  
I find the Japanese names weird…Lucia is Japanese, but her name is Italian. Hanon is American, but her name is Japanese. Rina's is both Italian and Japanese, Noel's is French, Caren is both Japanese and American, Coco is one of those tropical names (coconut, anyone?), Seira is Japanese, and Sara could go any way. Even Rhito's name is German, because it's the Romanji pronunciation of 'Litch'(light), so I don't see how the Japanese makes much sense, but okay~

To Mo12341234: Of course it does. What else were those two seasons about? XD

Thank you for the reviews!

….

"Come on!" Layla whined, following Amber through the castle. "I don't like the fire power anymore! I want the ice one back!"

"For the last time, _NO._" Amber responded, nearly punching something to punctuate her refusal. "I don't care for power switches. Are you aware how hard it is to manipulate water when it's evaporating?"

Layla frowned. Amber had a point and she was defeated, but she wouldn't tell her that. Especially now that they had entered the room that housed the captured mermaid princesses. "It isn't my fault that you can't control your powers."

"Of course it is!" She exclaimed, walking behind a glass pillar that held a light-blue mermaid with cascading, wavy blue hair and messy bangs. Her eyes were closed and she almost looked as though she was sleeping, but Amber knew better. She put her hands on the pillar as she walked by it. "If you weren't bothering me every three seconds, maybe I'd be able to practice!"

"Bitch," Layla grumbled.

"Look, you want it so bad? Than you can ask him."

"…I'd really rather not."

Amber walked past several more glass pillars, all empty except for one that held a green mermaid with pale-green straight hair and wavy bangs. Amber frowned; how could they have easily captured two, but not the others?

"Excuse me."

The water demons turned their attention to an empty glass pillar in the corner of the room, with a chair placed in it and a blond girl in it, reading a book.

"What is my job?" She asked rudely.

"Guard." Layla groaned. Truthfully, she hated Sandy, and not just because she made a point to letting them know she was younger and more intelligent.

"Exactly. How am I supposed to guard if you two are going to be in here jackassing off and taking my attention away from the tubes?" She asked, not looking away from her book.

"You're attention isn't on the tubes." Amber replied. "It's on that book. Lousy guard, but what are you reading? I want to make sure it's still at a second-grade reading level."

"Choke. Now get out."

Amber and Layla both made a face. A book with that title didn't exactly sound appropriate.

"Isn't that a little, um, mature for you?" Layla asked, slowly backing out of the room.

"Isn't it a bit mature for you?"

Amber left without a word. Layla, on the other hand, had to be dragged out because she tried to argue with Sandy.

….

"Please tell me you called off the llama."

"The what?"

"Crap, I meant to say 'limo'. Damn it!'

The two princesses stepped out the doors of middle school. Rose smacked her forehead lightly, almost as though a way of punctuating her belief of being an idiot.

"Don't do that, you could cause brain damage."

"Nothing knew then," Rose replied, fixing her bangs. "The limo?"

"Isn't picking me up from school." Maria answered, opening her umbrella. It thankfully wasn't raining, but her poor health demanded protecting from the sun rays.

"Great," Rose said, stretching her arms. "Because that would be awkward."

Maria shook her head slightly. She honestly didn't know what Rose meant, and asking usually meant even more confusing, so she didn't even bother.

"Excuse me!"

Looking back, out came a girl just barely taller than Maria from the school, holding an orange envelope. Rose tipped her head to the side; why anyone would use road-cone orange for an envelope was beyond her, but found it unimportant enough to ignore.

The girl opened the glass school doors and stepped up in front of Maria, handing over the envelope. "Geller-san, um, my birthday's on the fifteenth, and it's supposedly the last warm day of the year, I've invited everyone from our class, but I didn't make enough invites, you can bring Shinju-san along and Arella-san…"

Maria accepted the bright orange envelope when the girl handed it to her. "I'll be there," She told the girl.

"Sure, why not?" Rose added nicely.

"One more thing," The girl said, readjusting the strap to her schoolbag as she began to walk away backwards. "It's a beach party."

The second the girl turned around, Maria let the corners of her mouth sink into a frown.

"_Shit_," Rose said quietly, grabbing one of her pigtails. "Oh that's it, we're fucked. Forget the swimsuits; if we get wet, we're turning into foam. Oh, fuck, shouldn't have said yes, shit-"

"Rose," Maria interrupted. "You are going into profanity overload."

"Yeah, I do that when I'm stress." She replied as she let go of her hair. "Just, _fuck_."

Maria shook her head. "There are plenty of humans who can go to a beach party and not get a drop of water on themselves."

"But we're _mermaids_!" Rose said, lowering her voice on the last word. "We're water magnets!"

"Just stay away from it." Maria replied before walking off. "We've got somewhere to be, and the longer we spend immobile, the less likely we'll be there before night."

"I'm coming! I've got work in like, two hours anyway!"

….

Somewhere near the beach sat a small girl with orange hair. Her location was several yards from the shore, sitting on a large rock in not-too-shallow water. She splashed her feet in the water and over time, they began to turn orange.

"So I wonder if I'll find them." She said to herself. Her feet slowly grew scaly the longer they were in the water. She wiggled her toes, curious as to what scale against scale felt like. "That isn't pleasant at all."

She put her yellow sandals back on and stepped off the rock, into the ocean, and made her way to shore.

"But where?" She asked, still talking to herself. "I would guess, as a princess, it's somewhere fun. Hm, I thought the sea demons were more important?"

Just at that moment, two girls, with pink and blue hair, walked by. The young orange mermaid decided to run after them, but fell down face-first once her sandals sunk into the wet sand.

….

The two princesses entered Sucre Rêves and made a break for Orabelle's room. Through the door, up the stairs, through another door, down the hallway and into the yellow mermaid's room.

"Hey, Orabelle!" Rose called, stepping into the room. Her heart sank when she saw the princess still fast asleep. "Oh."

"What is she still doing asleep?" Maria asked worriedly as she walked over to Orabelle, setting her now-closed umbrella down by the desk. "She's been perfectly healthy until now, right? She should be awake by now."

"But she's _not_!" Whined Rose.

"I can see that." Maria said. She laid the back of her hand on Orabelle's forehead, which was flushed red like the rest of her face, and promptly jerked it back.

"…Huh?"

"Ice!" Maria exclaimed, hightailing it out of the room. "We need ice!"

Rose ran after her and the two frantically began searching up and down the hall for the kitchen. They found a laundry room, Alice's room, the bathroom, a closest full of towels and sheets, and what looked to be a study crossed with a living room, but no kitchen.

"What special breed of dumbfuck designed this place?" Rose yelled, throwing her hands up. "There's no fucking kitchen!"

Maria winced slightly at Rose's overuse of curses. That wasn't something she would ever get use to, not that she would want to anyway.

"Grab a towel," She said, heading for the stairs. "There's ice in the big one downstairs, right?"

"On it!" Rose replied, sprinting back to the closet. She grabbed a mint-green towel and quickly followed Maria down the stairs, albeit clumsily, taking them two at a time. Maria nearly slammed the last door open, sending it flying back shut once both girls exited and were on their way to the kitchen.

"We need ice!" Rose exclaimed, almost running face-first into the two-way doors.

Alice looked away from her pot of what looked to be boiling cream to see the girls run into the walk-in freezer. "Princesses," She called, afraid to leave the stove for fear that the contents of her pot would burn. "What's going on?"

"Belle's brain is about to become soup!" Rose yelled back, fighting to open a plastic bag she had just found next to a large tub of sherbet. Maria tore open a bag of ice and dumped some of it into Rose's.

"What?"

"Actually, forget this." Maria said, halting the flow of falling ice. "Ice bath."

Rose grabbed another bag of ice. "Got it!"

The two ran out of the freezer and out of the kitchen, getting odd looks from the few costumers in before the mid-day rush as they ran up the stairs and out of sight with all that ice.

Rose dropped her bags by the bathroom and ran to get Orabelle. Maria ran into the bathroom, plugged the tub and turned the cold water knob all the way. She then dumped what was left in her bag of ice before retrieving the ones Rose left out front, dumping those in too and sat on the floor next to the tub edge.

"Sweaty princess coming through!" Rose called from the hallway, seconds before entering the bathroom with Orabelle in her arms. She carefully set her in the tub, and with one flash of familiar rainbow light, she changed back into her mermaid form. The sudden appearance of a tail falling into water splashed the other two princesses and the floor.

"We'll need more towels…" Maria grumbled just slightly.

Rose stuck her fingers in the half-filled tub and promptly frowned. "Oh, no way in _hell_ can that be cold enough."

"It's not?"

Rose flicked the water off her fingers and back into the tub. "For a human, maybe, but this is mermaid form, it needs to be colder."

"I'll get some more ice. Don't let the tub overflow." Maria replied, standing back up. The smooth rubber bottoms of her boots made that impossible when she stepped in a puddle. She slipped, falling forward, onto the tiled floor.

"Uh, on second thought, I'll get the ice." Rose said, giving an awkward grin. "You watch the tub."

"Right then," Maria coughed. "_Ow_, my chest hurts…"

Rose stepped out of the bathroom and tossed the towel she had grabbed earlier in there. It landed on Maria's head.

"Lovely, lovely." She mumbled. She grabbed the towel off her head and sat up. Her hair was slightly lighter and a few inches longer than it had been a moment ago. With a sigh she dried the water from her face and went back to the tub. Orabelle was still asleep and that worried her horribly.

She sat back down at the edge of the tub and twirled her fingers in the bath water as she waited for Rose. The tub wasn't even half full yet and almost a whole bag of ice had melted due to the running water.

"Hey, Orabelle…" She said quietly as her fingers did a figure-eight in the water. "You'll be okay, right? I have a feeling that you won't, and this fever isn't good…I want you to be all right… I've lost enough people already, and I don't think I'll be able to keep going if I lose you. You're one of the first friends I've had since grade school, so you're important to me. Please be okay…"

She didn't say anything after that, instead continuing to twirl her fingers around in the half-full tub and managing to catch an ice-cube in a whirlpool.

Less than a minute later, Rose was back, a large bag of ice in each hand, panting heavily. "It's like running with fuckin' _ANKLE WEIGHTS_ on!" She exclaimed, dragging her feet to the tub. "That just isn't right!"

Maria took one of the ice bags from her and slowly dumped it in with the others, careful not to get splashed again. Rose dumped the other in until the bags were empty and left the plastic on the floor. Maria shut the tub off as the addition of the ice brought the water level up to the edges.

"Aren't ice baths _bad_ for sick people?" Rose asked, sitting next to the indigo princess. "I just thought about that, actually…"

Maria frowned to herself. "It's either this or she burns like the sun. Or we take her to a hospital where we all end up dissected."

"…Didn't think about that." Rose replied. She sighed. "Geez, sometimes it feels like not being a mermaid would be much easier."

"I don't think it would." Maria replied. "Don't forget, I've spent my whole life on land passing as a human. I don't exactly know if it's harder, though."

"That's true…hey! That means you haven't had your coming of age ceremony!"

Maria tipped her head to the side slightly. "My what?"

Rose jumped to her feet. "It's that day on your thirteenth birthday where you become an adult! Without it, you're still a kid, and you don't get that major party! How old are you, anyway?"

"Fifteen." She answered. "I'll be sixteen on the thirteenth. Please don't ask why I'm still in middle school."

Rose sat back down and grabbed Maria's shoulders. "With or without Belle, you have to get back to your kingdom for this. It's really important!"

"I don't know where that is!" Maria cried.

"That's why I'M taking you there."

Maria didn't know what to respond with at this point. She shook her head and Rose let her go. The two looked back over the edge of the tub to see the still-flushed South Pacific princess, and just at that time, someone knocked on the bathroom door, startling them both.

"Oh, guys, that just isn't right." Alice said with a look, noting the amount of ice. "She looks like she belongs at the grocery store on the fish counter."

Rose bit her lip. "Yeah, thanks for that." She replied. "I was trying not to think of it."

Alice flicked her hair back. "Sorry," She apologized. "I didn't mean that as a joke."

"I know…"

Maria let out a small, unnoticeable sigh. "I hope she wakes up soon." She said with a touch of worry in her voice. "Her fever is worse than the ones I usually have, though…that isn't good."

"Just so you know, you are going to have to step back." Alice said, in such a way it sounded like an order. "I don't want you two catching what she has."

Maria nearly jumped back. "I don't want to be sick!"

Rose stood up, sighed, and took a step back, all without looking away from the tub. "Belle, wake up soon." She whispered.

….

…_Where am I?_

_My head hurts…_

A shrill scream came from the bathroom, startling Alice awake.

"IT'S SO COLD!"

Alice rubbed one of her eyes briefly. The morning sun hurt, but she forgot all about it the second she heard that voice. She jumped out of bed, almost falling from getting her foot tangled in the blanket, and ran straight into the bathroom.

"Orabelle?" She exclaimed, slamming the door open.

There the yellow Princess was, in the tub, on ice, covering herself with her arms. She was still red, but it wasn't possible to tell if it was from her flu or the freezing water. Her tailfins had been hanging out of the tub the whole time, and even they had ice between the ruffles.

"Alice!" She cried, shivering. "It's too cold! Why am I in here?"

Without a word, Alice grabbed a towel off the silver towel rails and used it to take hold of Orabelle's arm without getting wet. It kept her hands dry, but not her feet; Orabelle had splashed water everywhere when she tried to jerk out of the tub.

Alice slipped and there was a flash of rainbow light, leaving a sunshine-yellow mermaid with thick eyeliner on the floor.

"_That_ didn't work." She said, rubbing her head. She lifted her torso off the floor by putting her arms out in front, but couldn't sit up. "Ugh! Go-Go Gadget arms! Arms aren't long enough! Need longer arms! ARMS!"

Orabelle, unable to take the cold any longer, began twisting and turning, grabbing at the edges and attempting to pull herself out. Half of the bath water made it to the floor, but she was eventually able to pull herself out.

"T-t-to-w-wel p-pl-ea-ssee." She said as her teeth chattered.

Alice flipped herself over and grabbed another yellow one off the rail. She tossed it at Orabelle, who caught it and quickly wrapped it around herself.

"Orabelle, finally you're awake!" Alice exclaimed, sitting up as properly as a mermaid could. "I was really worried about you! So were Princesses Rose and Maria!"

She sneezed. "W-was th-the iccce b-bath really necessary?"

"I didn't put you in it," Alice replied, reaching behind and grabbing herself a towel. "Rose and Maria-hime did, you were so hot that you almost gave yourself sunburn!"

She sneezed again. "How long have I been out?"

"Well, it's Wednesday…"

"THREE AND A HALF DAYS?"

….

I admit it; I forgot which powers Amber and Layla have, so I made it optional. Don't shoot me :U

And Rose cusses like I do, only not as bad. Lovely~!  
And the entire time I've been writing this, I kept thinking of Spencer sitting upside-down on a couch watching Doctor Who. Wut. There was a D-20 pillow up there. I must write this. It is to be expected.

With a still-sick Orabelle and a birthday ceremony coming up, I insert some catchy line here to keep you stuck to the story! Review if you like or have a question, please! Reviews make me smile~! And don't forget to check the site, it's on my profile where it says 'Homepage'!


	18. Four

YOU GUUUYSSSSS IT'S BEEN LIKE THREE WEEKS  
LACK OF UPDATE. At least it's done right? I've been too tired and too busy to write and I just FINALLY got this done!

At Princess TMR: I knooooow, that's my fault D: I'mma knock that shit off, I didn't even realize I was having that happen until recently. And who knows, you'll have to read to find out if something like that happens~ And dude, you are TOTALLY making me want to make the Umi Fanclub official and put it on my site. I might do that if I can figure out how~

(ffdotnet is being a dick and won't register my dividers, d'oh.)

….

"More like two and a half days, you haven't missed anything big." Alice assured.

Orabelle's expression began to calm before she thought about what happened on Sunday.

"I have to get to school!" She exclaimed, pulling the towel off and using it to frantically dry her hair. "There's something I have to check at school!"

She turned around and pulled herself forward with her arms on the floor. Alice frowned and fell forward, wrapping her own arms around the princess's tail.

"Alice, what are you doing?" She demanded.

"You aren't going _anywhere_." Alice replied, looking up. "You're still sick! Didn't the near-coma tell you anything?"

Orabelle turned her head. The look on Alice's face meant what she said, and she was right. She couldn't go to school while she was still sick.

….

"SPENCEEERRRR!"

_Oh crap- Brace for impact!_

There was a 'thud' and giggling from several students on their way to school. Rose sat up at tapped the side of her head. Unfortunately for her, during her not-so-stealth hug attack, she tripped over a rock, bringing Spencer down with her.

"Good, no loose brain cells…" She mumbled, picking Spencer's glasses up off the ground.

"What was the point of that?" He asked, staring straight ahead. He was so near-sighted that he couldn't even find the princess, much less his glasses.

"I was going for 'the glomp', but that didn't work. It turned into epic fail, actually." She replied, rubbing dirt off the thick black spectacles. She then poked his forehead. "Hey Einstein, over here."

He turned his head to her direction, but could only see a horrible blur of trees, the sky and a pink lump. "Where did my glasses go?"

"I got them!" She said, putting them on. The world looked so horribly askew through them that she immediately pulled them off. "Just how fucked-up _are_ your eyes?"

"Very. Can I have those back?"

She handed the geeky frames back to the blond-haired owner, who quickly placed them back on his face. Rose jumped to her feet, fixed the strap to her school bag and grabbed Spencer's arm in an attempt to pull him up.

"Hey, hey, hey!" He complained as he stood back up. "I like my shoulder in the socket, thank you!"

Rose chuckled lightly to herself. "Okay, fine," She said, letting him go. "Wouldn't want to kill your arm, you need that for rolling Dungeons and Dragons dice."

"Have you tried rolling a D-20 with your foot? It isn't exactly easy."

"No, but I'll try that." She replied. The two resumed their walk to school. "That is, if I ever find a D-20- hold on, phones ringing."

The sound of Zeromancer's 'Dr. Online' played until Rose pulled a little pink flip-phone out of her bag and hit the 'talk' button.

"Rose phone, talk fast 'cause I'm on my way to school." She said. There was a short pause, before she yelled, "REALLY?" and almost dropped the small phone out of excitement.

Spencer leaned to the side as she yelled and cringed a bit. "There goes my eardrums."

"Really?" She said again, this time quieter. She was quiet for another moment. "Hey, you sound like Hell. Check something? Wait, how am I supposed to check that? Last I checked, he's the referee, not someone I actually know…okay, I'll do it. I'll be there after school, bye!"

She hit the talk button again, flipped the cell-phone shut and stuffed it back in her school bag.

"Guess what!" She said happily, now skipping instead of walking.

"What?" Spencer asked instead of guessing. "Hey, don't skip, you're wearing a skirt."

"Belle's awake!" She exclaimed happily as her skip transitioned slowly into a short stride. "I wonder how she responded to her third ice bath, actually. Couldn't have been good…"

"I wasn't aware anything was _wrong_."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Rose apologized nervously. "I think you can guess why I don't tell anyone about _that_ stuff. Never had to back at home."

"Let me guess, it has something to do with the-"

"_Yes_. Shush about that, there might be bubbles."

He laughed. "'There might be bubbles'? You sound ridiculous."

"Yeah, keep laughing." She muttered, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, Orabelle's sick, she's been unconscious for a few days, she's finally awake now and for some reason she wants me to check on Hibiki-san. That's weird."

"Why's it weird?"

"Because he's always yelling at me." She replied. "Sure, it might be my fault, don't ask, but that's just awkward."

"You're right, that _is_ weird." Said Spencer. "How is he still alive after yelling at you? I though you would pop someone's head off if they did that."

"Real funny," Rose said with false annoyance. "I didn't know I was a pink version of the Hulk- HEY MARIA!"

The blue-haired girl looked back, finding both Rose and Spencer running up to her. _No, no, no!_ She thought, blushing brightly. _I can't talk to boys! I'm too shy!_

"What's with that look?" Rose asked curiously as she stopped next to the indigo princess. "It looks like someone just shoved their slash manga in your face."

"N-nothing," Maria stuttered. "Just nervous."

"Good morning, Geller-san." Spencer said, stopping next to Rose.

"Nervous about what?" Rose asked.

_Oh, it feels like I can't breathe now! _Maria thought. "W-well, I'll have plenty of people walking up to me soon, wishing me a happy birthday…" She lied. "And you know how I can't deal with people…"

"Just tell them to bugger off. And, guess what!"

"Um, what?"

Rose frowned. "Come on!" She exclaimed, latching onto Maria's side and leaning on her. "Guess!"

"Rose!" Spencer said, grabbing one of the pink princess' arms and attempting to pull her off. "You're going to flatten her into a senbei!"

"I don't think she's _that_ fragile!"

"I'm falling!" Maria cried, tipping on her side with all her and Rose's weight on one foot. Rose loosened her grip just slightly and within the next moment Spencer was able to successfully remove her from Maria's side.

"Do I really have to guess?" Maria asked with the slightest bit of annoyance in her tone. It quickly faded and her shy demeanor returned with a light blush. "And, u-uhm, thank you, Chevalier-s-san-"

"Belle's awake!" Rose exclaimed happily, latching onto Maria's side again, this time without leaning on her. "It is time to be happy! It is time…TO DANCE!"

"Orabelle's awake? We're going to see her after school, right- Wait what?"

Spencer pulled the pink-haired girl off the shorter one again. "Um, you are aware class starts in like, two minutes, right?" He asked. "And you want to dance out front."

"Sometimes I think I have A.D.D.," Rose replied joyously. "But I don't think I can actually have that."

Spencer rolled his eyes. "Come on, tuna fish." He said, turning to leave for the school doors. "Class in two minutes. Bye, Geller-san."

"I'm not a tuna!" Rose exclaimed as she chased after him. "I'm a salmon! Maria's the tuna, get the colors right!"

"Geez, you're really spun up right now."

Maria frowned. She had never thought of herself as a fish, much less a tuna, and completely disregarded the fact that she happen to be a mermaid. Instantly deciding to ignore it, she made her way to the school in hopes of having a relatively quiet day with no sea demons.

….

"ONWARDS! TO THE MAGICAL LAND OF…SOMETHING!"

"Rose, stop shouting."

"PONIES!"

Maria shook her head. Rose had decided that she would try acting stupid all day at school to 'see how Hoshi spends her hours'. She didn't understand why Rose was still acting that way.

"Please stop that."

Rose nibbled her bottom lip. "Oh come on, I spend most of my time being serious, would it hurt to act stupid for a while?"

Maria paused for a moment. "No…but people might not take you serious later. And wait, didn't you have something to do before the school day is over?"

Rose jumped over a crack in the pavement, landing hard on her feet. "They will. There's a surprising amount of people scared of me." She said, and then added half-thoughtfully, "And I couldn't."

"What was it you needed to do?"

"Orabelle wanted me to check on someone. You know, three days ago and all, I'll assume that's her boyfriend."

"Boyfriend…? Um, why?"

"Can you explain why she was _that_ with him on the beach? I can't, but then again, I just don't want to think. Which brings me to _you_."

Rose poked Maria's nose with her last word. "Me?" Maria asked thoughtfully, albeit confused.

"Yes, _you_. I interrogate because I care," Rose said. "Or I'm bored. Do _you_ like anyone like that?"

Maria's cheeks quickly turned red. "Like what?"

"You know what I mean. You've had like, almost sixteen years away from home for it."

She didn't answer.

Instead, Maria turned away and began walking. "Come on, we have somewhere to be."

Rose turned around, running up to her backwards. "Ah-ha!" She exclaimed, pointing at the girl. "You're deflecting!"

"I am not." She replied, putting a hand on her cheek in attempt to hide the large red spot. "I just want to go see Orabelle."

"Well, so do I, but that's no reason to dodge the question."

Maria continued to walk, in silence, until she came to one of the sea-side guardrails. She could smell the water in the air, even if she couldn't see it just yet. Rose was still walking backwards, surprisingly having no trouble of any kind as she awaited her answer.

Finally, Maria said, "If I tell you, will you stop doing that?"

"I thought that was the plan," Rose replied. "Yes."

Maria sighed as the ocean became present. "Yes."

"Who?"

Maria frowned. "What do you mean, 'who'? You only asked if there was someone I like; names were not part of the deal."

Rose turned around. "Please tell me?"

"I can't."

"Can't or won't?"

"How about both?"

Rose let out a loud sigh and bit down on her lip again. "Okay, fine." She said. "I'll stop bothering you about it for now, but I'm interested. Please tell me it's not that asshole who sits behind me in class."

"It's not."

….

The little orange mermaid poked her head out of the water.

"There they are!" Clair said to herself, spotting the indigo and pink princesses passing by. Even being as far away as she was, she could still see the necklaces they wore, identifying them as the princess lockets.

The only problem now was getting their attention. She couldn't exactly yell as it could draw humans to her. Contemplating failure, she dived back into the water, head-first tail-last, creating a loud splash.

….

"Rose, what the-" Maria began to say, almost jumping back as the pink princess grabbed the guardrail and easily hoisted herself over it.

"Saw something!" She called, plummeting into the ocean with a loud splash.

"Rose!" She yelled with annoyance, timidly pulling herself over the rail. "Rose, what the Hell?"

She landed in the water with both a splash and a flash, letting her legs merge into a tail before swimming after the pink fins far out in front of her.

"Rose!" She yelled again, watching the fins disappear. "Rose! I can't swim fast! Wait for me!"

Eventually she caught up with the mermaid, bumping into her when she found Rose at a stop.

"Princess Rosalina!" Clair yelled, thrashing her tail around as she tried to break free of the sea demon's fishnet-covered arms around her. "Help!"

Rose didn't move. Her eyes were dark and she had no expression.

"My, my," The sea demon said, smiling maliciously. She used her long nails to push Clair's short, wavy orange hair out of her face and gave Maria a poisonous look. "Three princesses at one moment? Could you be any easier to catch?"

Maria had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. This was not the time to be scared, but she couldn't help it. She shook Rose, but the princess was still unresponsive.

"I-Indigo pearl voice!" She exclaimed, stuttering once in fear. Rainbow light surrounded her, splitting her tail into legs and changing her seashell bra into her blue dress. She took hold her of microphone and involuntarily spun around once, proof that the transformation was complete.

"Is this going to be a concert?" The sea demon asked, lifting her legs into a sitting position. "Entertain me, then."

The Live Stage appeared around her and Maria frowned for what she thought could be the tenth time today. The monster's lack of worry gave her a bad feeling, as did Rose's current state, making her very impatient as she waited for the moment to start adding lyrics to the music that filled the area.

"_Nanairo no kaze ni fukarete_

"_Tooi__ misaki wo mezashiteta_

"_Yoake mae kikoeta MERODI_

"_Sore wa totemo natsukashii uta_

"_Higashi no sora e to habataku toritachi_

"_Saa, takarajima ni nukeru chikamichi_

"_Nanatsu no umi no rakuen_

"_Arashi no yoru no ato ni wa_

"_Ai wo tsutaerutame inochi ga mata umareru_

"_Nanatsu no kuni no MERODIA_

"_Daremo ga itsuka wa koko wo tabidatsu hi ga kitemo_

"_Watashi wa wasurenai~"_

The sea demon chuckled. "You don't honestly believe you can beat me with that." She said, showing no signs of any ill effect. "Or do you? Is little fin-girl going to tell me I'm wrong?"

_What am I going to do now? I'm scared…_ Maria thought, feeling completely crushed. "If songs have no effect…"

The sea demon patted the now-unresponsive orange mermaid's head. "Aren't you going to play like this little darling did? It isn't any fun if you sulk."

"What do I say?" Maria thought out loud. "Am I supposed to start singing again? It didn't work last time…"

The demon grabbed one of Rose's pigtails and pulled her forward. "Better hurry," She said. "Your time it almost up."

"What would Rose say?" Maria wondered. "Something like…" _Fucking Hell, keep singing or give up. _"Something like that.

"_Yukkuri to kumo wa nagarete nijino hate ni kieteitta_

"_Hoshitachi wa shinju no you ni_

"_Tsuyoi hikari hanachi hajimeru_

"_Minami no sora kara kikoeru kuchibue_

"_Sou, otona ni naru toki ga kiteita_-"

She screamed. A vicious shaking came from her stage, knocking her down and disrupting the music around her, creating a terrible noise.

The sea demon watched on, laughing at her. "Are you ready to give up yet?" She asked as Maria dropped her microphone and covered her ears. "The sooner you do, the sooner your own sound waves will stop harming you."

_What do I do?_ Maria thought hopelessly, wincing as she covered her ears. _What do I do when singing doesn't work? What am I supposed to do?_

The Live Stage shattered. Shards of light rained down on the indigo princess, eventually vanishing as they sunk to the ocean floor.

"Are you done yet?" The sea demon asked, pretending to examine her nails. "Normally I would play a bit longer, but I'm on a little bit of a schedule today."

"Leave me alone!" She yelled, throwing her microphone at the creature's head. It missed, instead soaring through her long purple hair. She couldn't help but cry. "Let them go!"

She smirked. "It stops being a game when you throw things. This isn't fun anymore," She said, reaching behind herself and catching the microphone. "The games are over."

_My pearl..._ Maria thought. "My pearl's in that!"

The purple-haired demon looked at the E-pitch. It was white with plenty of blue accents and somewhere in the middle, between four yellow teardrop shapes a tiny dark-blue jewel was placed.

"Hm, so it is."

"Give it back!"

The sea demon chuckled. "Well that's rude, isn't it? Maybe if you stopped crying, but that's only maybe. Who knows?"

"STOP IT!"

She smirked, and then quickly frowned afterwards. "Tch, I'm being called back. Remember the name Galicia, because the next time you hear it, you'll be joining your friends."

Galicia vanished in a swirl of bubbles, taking Rose and Clair with her and leaving behind Maria's microphone. She began to sob uncontrollably as it sank to the sea floor. With one more flash of light and her tail returned, she swam down in hopes of finding her pearl.

….

Orabelle checked the clock. It read six forty-three, almost a whole four hours since school let out. Rose and Maria hadn't shown up and she was getting worried. Her necklace had been glowing earlier, but she was too weak to find out why.

With a sigh she rolled over on her stomach and grabbed her pillow, pulling it close and burying her face in it.

"What if something bad happened?" She wondered out loud. "I'll feel like it's my fault because I didn't go…ugh. Would _someone_ let me know everything is alright?"

She turned her head to look at the door. It went undisturbed the entire time she stared at it.

"That was your cue to open," Orabelle mumbled, hugging her pillow tighter. She rolled back over and sat up, pulling her knees forward and keeping her pillow under her chin. "Or at least, that's how it worked back home."

A loud pattering could be heard from outside. Heavy raindrops quickly coated the outer surface of Orabelle's bedroom window and the low rumbling of thunder could be heard.

Orabelle sighed once more. "No one's coming to see me in this weather. I guess that explains why Rose isn't here, umbrellas are useless in storms. I guess Maria's out, too. I hope they're safe."


	19. Just Another Uneventful Day

-1Remember when I said the day I stop updating is the day I die?

I swear I'm not dead. Send the sharks after me next time I take half a year to finish a chapter. It would have been done MONTHS ago, but as soon as I finished it, the file got wiped clean and I didn't want to write for a while. But here it is, in all its crappy glory.

Half of that is because I wrote the majority of it with less than five hours of sleep a day ._.

…

"Orabelle, what are you doing?"

The princess frowned. She was currently sitting on her bed, already dressed in her school uniform, pulling her second thigh-high stocking up; she was hoping to leave before Alice noticed, but that plan was foiled.

"Getting ready for school…?" She answered uneasily.

"Not today," Alice said, walking into the princess's room. She placed her hand on Orabelle's forehead, finding it to still be warm. "Unless you want to make everyone else sick."

"I don't feel sick," The princess lied. She felt dizzy and tired, her head heavy and hurting a bit, and moving was not something she wanted to do right now, but she _had_ to go to school today, she told herself. She had heard nothing from Rose or Maria, and she didn't know if Umi was alright or if the sea demons had attacked them again.

"Lie all you want, you're still not going today."

...

It was cloudy and wet out as Maria made her way up to the school. Another day full of rain, she suspected, like every other day for the past few weeks. It was almost surprising that the city wasn't underwater by now and the flooding was only at a minimum.

What was not surprising, however, was how slippery everything was. Maria soon found out as she walked, absent-mindedly, right into a puddle on uneven pavement and slipped. Her book-bag fell off her shoulder and her umbrella flew off to who knows where as she went down, her chest receiving most of the damage as she hit the ground.

_It just keeps getting worse and worse_, Maria thought, tears welling in her eyes. _If I wasn't so pathetic all the time, maybe-_

A pair of sneakers entering her vision and a familiar voice interrupted her self-loathing thought. "I'm not even going to ask if you need help. Are you alright?" Spencer asked, leaning down to help her. Placing his hands under her arms and getting a firm hold on the girl, he lifted her up and made sure the soles of her boots were planted safely on the ground before letting go.

"I-I'm fine," Maria stuttered out, already knowing of the bright red blush on her face. "Th-thank you, Ch-Chevalier-s-"

"Spencer," He corrected, retrieving her umbrella. He found her book-bag and handed both of the items back over to the princess.

"Just call me Spencer. Are you sure you're alright?"

"I-I'm fine," She lied again, taking her things back. Truth be told, her chest felt crushed and tight, and it was probably bruised. She was horribly tired, but didn't sleep because she had been searching for her pearl all of last night, and she was worried sick about Rose.

"Just checking…your face is awfully red, I just want to make sure."

"I-it's always red," She said shyly, pulling her book-bag strap over her shoulder. "I'm just n-not good at talking to people…but, thank you…"

"Ah, not a problem at all, and, speaking of people that you talk to, have you seen Rose?"

…_I should've stayed home today._

"About that…" She said nervously, almost too quiet to hear. "Um…"

_How do I say it?_ She thought, eyes falling to the ground as a moment of silence passed. _It's too hard…just…why couldn't I save her? I just stood there and cried-_

"Geller-san…?"

"I-I-I'm sorry," She murmured miserably, her eyes darting back up to the bespectacled boy in front of her. "I'm bad at this…" _It would help if you would talk instead of think, Maria. Just SAY it, tell him what happened…it's my fault, and he deserves to know._

More time passed. Students of all middle school grades passed by, most of them minding their own business as they went on to find there classes. A handful of them would stop and stare or strike up some not-too-quiet gossip about the unlikely pair with their friends.

_This isn't working…say SOMETHING already._

"Geller-san," Spencer said softly, trying to catch her attention without starling her. There was no response. "Geller-san…?"

No response.

…

"MARIA," He said, louder this time. Finally, he caught her attention. She looked up at him again, startled and confused.

"Y-yes?"

"Why are you crying?" He asked, lowering his concerned-filled voice now. "Did something happen?"

Maria touched her face; her cheeks were mostly dry, except for the moist streaks starting from her eyes and ending at the bottom of her chin. She wiped the tears away on her uniform sleeve, angry at herself for crying again.

"Rose-"

Just then the school bell interrupted the mermaid, ringing loudly throughout the area. Any students remaining outside scurried to the doors, hoping to get in before it was too late.

_Damn it…_

"I'm sorry!" Maria called as she hurried to get inside. "I'll have to tell you after school!"

...

"I'm having a problem with your _minions_," Layla complained haughtily, frowning sharply at the man in front of her.

"And what might that be?" He asked, his voice as smooth as velvet but almost without a tone.

"Sandy's a little bitch and Amber's an unhelpful drama-queen. I've been trying my best, and I would have captured that yellow mermaid princess by now if it wasn't for Amber's stupid plans. Would you believe she wanted to capture an air-breather, just to get under the mermaid's skin? Not even as bait, just petty revenge! And she keeps freezing me where _she_ can get to the mermaids first, and she _always_ gets defeated. You have to do something about her, it's impossible to capture the mermaid princesses like this."

The man sighed. He arose from his throne and walked down to the purple-eyed girl, placing one of his hands under her chin to lift her head up. She put on a small, sweet smile and batted her eyelashes as she looked into his red orbs

"Is that nothing but the truth?" He asked. Outside of his cruel air of heartlessness, he sounded almost kind.

Layla shook her head up and down, trying to keep her innocent little smile from turning sinister. Her attempts went to waste as the corner of her mouth shot up, making her look anything but harmless.

"Amber," He called, removing his hand from the other sea demon as he turned around. "Get in here."

Black mist quickly gathered beside a now-sneering Layla, forming the shape of the aforementioned sea demon. It vanished, leaving Amber in the room.

"Yes, master Agent?"

He narrowed his eyes at the name.

"Do you know anything about kidnapped an 'air-breather'?" He asked. "There is no place for strays here, I hope you know."

Amber was confused for a moment, until she remembered the last attempt at capturing the mermaid princesses. She suddenly found herself shaking, overcome with rage; she would not, _could not_ be blamed for Layla's screw-ups and spiteful acts. She wouldn't allow it.

"YOU BITCH!" She shrieked, slapping Layla across the cheek. "You were trying to pin that on me, weren't you?"

"You're lying!" Layla yelled at her, feigning innocence again as she covered the stinging red mark on her face with her hands. "That was your idea! And it was dumb!"

"Don't blame your petty crap on me!" Amber angrily yelled back. "No wonder we haven't caught another mermaid princess yet, you're too busy with stupid things like this!"

"Stupid? You're just pissed I told on you!"

"BULLSHIT! I'm pissed off because you're trying to get me punished for something _you_ did!"

Completely unfazed by the yelling girls, the man, Agent, said, "You two, if you continue to fight, I'll have to punish you both. Honestly, is there no calm way to settle this? At least one that doesn't involve yelling."

Still seething, Amber fell silent. Layla crossed her arms and went quiet, planning her revenge against Amber in her head if this didn't go well.

"Do you know what I hate?" Agent asked, eerily nonchalant. "More so than the sea goddess?"

"That book?" Amber guessed, her anger still very apparent in her tone.

The man's expression soured for a split second. "Correct, but that's not what I'm talking about."

Layla tipped her head to the side, almost as if to ask what and why. Of course, she knew Agent couldn't see her.

"It's that repulsive attitude you have, Layla." He answered with a small chuckle. "It's horribly disgusting, isn't it? More energy for spite than for bringing me the Mermaid Princesses…"

The sea demon's heart sank. "Master Agent…"

He lifted his hand, and she knew right away that Agent did not want to hear from her. "Don't talk to me," He said. "In fact, I don't want to see you in my presence again until you bring back another Mermaid Princess."

"But-"

"Be gone!"

With one last distraught look at Amber, Layla vanished in a swirl of bubbles and flames.

...

"Geller-san?"

…

"Geller-san…?"

…

"Hellooo…?"

Hoshi slammed her hands down on her desk. "MARIA!" She exclaimed, her tone filled with annoyance.

The blue-haired girl jumped awake in such a way that she fell over in her chair. She hit the floor with a pained groan; today was not her day, nor was yesterday, and tomorrow probably wouldn't be, either.

"Oh, Hoshi, look what you did," Mio said, pointing to the fallen girl. "It's not her fault you're mad, you know."

"I don't care." Hoshi replied sharply. "It's not my fault she decided to throw herself back, so don't pin it on me."

Umi glared at her. "Thanks a lot, Akemi-san," He said, irritated as he took Maria's hand and lifted her up in her chair. "You're a great help."

"_Someone_ needs to be, because you aren't getting anything done."

Umi sighed and mumbled something along the lines of wondering why he ever stopped Rose from rearranging Hoshi's face. He ignore her now; continuing would only make it worse, and he told himself that he would not stoop to Hoshi's level.

"Sorry about that," He apologized to Maria. "I didn't ask her to do that, you were asleep…"

"I'm fine," She tiredly lied, rubbing the pained spot on the back of her head. "I'm just tired, I was up all night looking for my pe…ring."

She showed him the little blue butterfly on her right hand's ring-finger as proof before yawning. She found it fortunate that she was too tired to have a full-blown anxiety attack from talking to someone at the moment.

"I see…anyway, I was wondering, do you know where Arella-san lives? I volunteered to bring her schoolwork to her, but I actually don't know where she lives."

"Sucre Rêves," She yawned again. "It's that fairly new sea-side sugar café…"

"The one that looks like the inside of a coffee-cup," Umi said.

"I guess you could say that…" She tried not to trail off, but the pounding pain in her head was making it hard to focus on talking. "There's a door by the restrooms, go through there and up the stairs."

He gave her a little wave as he started back to his desk. "Thanks!"

Just out of the corner of her eye, Maria barely noticed the bit of poorly-wrapped gauze hanging from his wrist.

_So that's what Orabelle wanted Rose to check on…_

...

As soon as Amber left, Agent returned to his throne. Like the rest of the dark room, it was a silver-blue color, and the arms of the chair had all types of rare jewels incrusted in them.

The man sat in the throne, not because he was a king, or any sort of royalty, but simple because it established that he had power over any being that made its way into the castle.

"Angelita!" He called with a bored tone.

Lavender-colored clouds quickly formed and vanished beside the throne, leaving another woman. She was tall and had long, off-white hair and lavender-colored eyes, and she smelled of lavender.

"Yes?" She answered politely.

"What is the location of the known Mermaid Princesses?" Agent asked, placing his elbow on one of the throne's arms and propping his head up with his hand.

"You're not going to like this one," She giggled. She lifted her necklace and showed him the screen of her stolen green pearl radar. "They're still in the same location, but one of them is _missing_."

"Where did she go?" He asked, almost demanding. He reminded himself to keep calm; he would have them all in due time, there was no need to get upset.

"Nowhere, apparently."

"Explain, Angelita. I'm not in the mood for games, nor for the perfume you decided to bathe in."

She smirked. "It's not perfume, it's natural." She responded. "Anyway, she was in the area yesterday, and then she just vanished off the radar. She didn't leave, she's not out of rang, she just vanished into thin air. Or water, if that was the case."

Annoyed, the white-haired man drummed the fingers from his free hand on the other arm of his throne. "And why didn't you tell me this yesterday?"

"I wanted to see how long it would take for you to get mad, simply put." Angelita giggled. "You look emotionless, you know."

Agent was angry for a moment, until it all melted away. He smirked and calmly closed his eyes. "You're so cruel. But unfortunately for you, you've lost this one."

"You can't blame me for being bored and wanting to play, can you?"

"Actually, I can."

...

The last bell of the day had already rung and students were on their way out of the classrooms, shouting goodbyes to one another and darting through the crowds. Maria waited until everyone was out where she wouldn't get pushed around or stepped on; she might have been considered somewhat tall compared to everyone else, but she was easily flattened.

She grabbed her bag and umbrella and went on her way out a few minutes later. She was nervous, almost shaking in her boots.

She still had to talk to Spencer.

Maria exited the school and found the blond leaning against the wall, staring at the screen as he pounded away at the buttons on his cell-phone. He didn't look particularly happy, but he didn't look upset, either.

"You know what's weird?" He asked, not looking away from his phone screen. His voice startled her again; when did he notice her?

"What?"

"Every time I call Rose, I keep getting a message saying that her number doesn't exist."

Maria took a deep breath, exhaling audibly. "She must have had her cell-phone with her at the time…"

Spencer shut his phone. "What do you mean?"

Maria went over to him and set her umbrella and book-bag down. She pressed her back to the wall and tried to calm herself from having another anxiety attack. Talking to someone was probably not going to help.

"Rose is a mermaid princess," She started, thinking over what she was going to say. "Everything she has on, in a way, ceases to exist when she turns into a mermaid. Didn't she tell you why she's on land?"

It was quiet for a moment. "…no, and I didn't think to ask." Spencer answer. "And she doesn't seem to tell without being asked. Even then, she avoids answering."

"I've noticed…anyway…well, Rose and Orabelle, and now me…we're all on land to escape sea demons. Well, I originally wasn't, but back to it, they needed to get away from the sea demons. Because there's something, or someone, out there that wants to capture all of the mermaid princesses and take their pearls. I don't know much more than that, but it might have to do with taking over the marine world, or so I hear…"

He let out a sigh. Spencer knew it would be something like that, he just didn't want to believe it. How could someone be in trouble like that? "I guess that makes sense, I just wonder why she never told me, even _after_ I found out about the mermaid thing..."

"I wouldn't know," She replied, taking another deep breath. "Remember when I was being stupid this morning-"

"No you weren't."

"…what?"

"You weren't being stupid. It's not really my place to be saying this, and no offense, but everyone knows you're a bit of a nervous wreck. If you can't control it, why hate yourself over it?"

She bit her lip; that sounded like something Rose would say. "I was just being me…stupid, and bad at talking, and-"

"Wrong," He interrupted again. "You're shy, not stupid. And easily worried."

_Don't argue with him_, She told herself. _Its only taking longer._

"Anyway," She continued uncharacteristically sharp, going back to the original topic. "I was like that because…a sea demon attacked us, and my song didn't work…it took Rose away, and I couldn't stop it. I-it was my fault…and I don't know if I can get her back…"

...

Orabelle nearly fell out of the bathtub when she heard the loud knocking.

"Who's beating down the door?" She grumbled as she reached for a towel. She quickly dried her tail away and her hair back to a shorter length and darker color.

"One minute!"

She hung the towels up to dry and threw on the black and yellow pile of clothes that sat atop the towel rack. She darted out of the bathroom, stumbling as she went, to the door at the end of the hall.

The first thing she noticed when she opened the door was a large manila envelope. The second thing she noticed was that said envelope was being held by a certain Jerk Romeo, wearing her middle school's uniform for boys.

"What are you…"

"I brought your school assignments," He said with somewhat of a smile. There was a small pause before he added, "Are you feeling any better?"

"I…" _Why does my face feel like it's on fire…? _She took the large envelope as she searched for something to say. She couldn't figure out why she suddenly felt so awkward. Maybe it was because she might have exposed her secret the last time she saw him, but after thinking it over for a second, she was hardly afraid of that.

"…I'm fine." She lied.

"Are you sure about that?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" She pouted. "It's just the flu, I'm only slightly dizzy, nothing else. I'll probably be at school tomorrow, or on Monday, I would have been today, if Alice let me out. You don't need to worry about m…what are you doing?"

"My hands are cold," He replied. One of his hands was then on Orabelle's back, the other on the back of her head. He pulled her closer and placed his forehead against hers, concentrating on the temperature of her skin.

"I knew it, you've got a fever."

"Sh-shove off!" She said, trying not to sound as flustered as she now was. Umi only chuckled and smirked at how red she was when Orabelle pushed him away. "I said I'm fine, so worry about yourself!"

"I would, but I'm not the one that's sick. Or that shade of red."

"I'm _fine_," She repeated, sounding irritated. Did her words not reach him? The way she saw it, she was just sick; she could recover without a problem. Umi, on the other hand, had been subjected to a sea demon attack, and she knew he hadn't walked away from it clean. It was one thing for her, a mermaid, but Umi was human. In her eyes, he was actually the most fragile of the two.

"Besides, you don't have to be sick to take care of yourself. Don't be thick-headed…"

He gave her a confused look. "What are you talking about?" He asked, putting one hand behind his head. "Unlike you, _I actually am _just fine."

She didn't know why she felt so angry when he said that.

"Right, then just what," She grabbed the arm behind his head, returning it to her line of vision, and pulled his shirt sleeve up. He didn't stop her; he didn't even know what she was doing until the poorly-wrapped bandages were exposed. "Is this?"

For a split second, he thought he should be mad about that. But he wasn't, and instead, he was feeling more nonchalant than anything. "That's nothing," He dismissed, pulling his arm away.

"Really? Then you shouldn't need all of those dressing, _now do you_-"

"I'm fine," He said again, forcefully this time as he cut into her words. He now sounded some degree of upset. "It's just something small and insignificant and it really doesn't matter, okay? It doesn't!"

Orabelle crossed her arms, yelling in her thoughts about how she should have 'kept her mouth shut'; maybe it was her business as a mermaid princess, but as a human, who shouldn't even know how he was injured, it wasn't, and she realized this a little too late. Now Umi was possibly upset with her, and she didn't like that one bit.

Silence began to fill the hall. It wasn't horribly awkward, but it wasn't inviting, either. The two kept quiet; the princess looked away, while the boy just stared, his expression not that angry or bothered, but just upset enough that Orabelle found it too unbearable for her eyes.

_Now I've done it, _She thought glumly,_ I've gone and made him feel even the slightest bit unpleasa…wait a second, why am I even so unhappy about that…?_

The silence carried on for several minutes more, until Umi couldn't help but comment on something he saw.

"Arel…Orabelle, I'm sorry if I upset you…could you please stop crying?"

"…I'm not crying…" She went to say, only to feel something drip down her chin as she turned back to him. She placed two of her finger on the side of her face, only to pull them away a second later; they were wet and shining. "Oh…I guess I am. When did that happen…?"

Umi tilted his head, his expression inquisitive as he spoke. "How could you not know when you're crying?"

"Oh, shush," Orabelle said, drying her face on her shirt sleeve. _Why am I crying? _She wondered. _I have no reason to… _"By the way…that gauze is wrapped like crap."

The boy lifted both his arms after she spoke and his gaze fixed on his wrists, the gauze coming into sight once the fabric of the unbuttoned sleeves fell down. He blinked a few times, almost as though he didn't understand what he was seeing.

"Is it really that bad?" He asked, sounding as if he honestly didn't know. And maybe he didn't.

Something about that brought her mood up. One second the atmosphere was completely daunting, the next…she couldn't help it.

"It's absolutely terrible!" She blurted out with a laugh, drying her face with her shirt sleeve again. She tried to stifle her giggling, only that didn't work too well. "It's really, really bad, how are they even staying on?"

"I…" He flailed his arms around a bit. Somehow, the bandages didn't come off. "I don't even know. How ARE they staying on?"

With a small giggle, Orabelle took one of his hands into hers and led him up the hallway.

"Where are you taking me?"

She didn't respond, as they had just arrived at the bathroom. The air was still warm from the heat of the bath water, and it smelled heavily of soap and a certain yellow tropical fruit. Orabelle released his hand and ran over to the counter on the other side of the room. She set the large envelope down and reached for the cabinet above, flinging the door open. Though, try as she might, she couldn't reach the large metal tin on the top shelf.

"Orabelle…what are you doing?"

"I can't fix those bandages of I can't reach the first-aid kit," She answered, sounding like a child that desperately wanted to help. "I'll get it…!"

His first thought was to say that he could do it himself and tell her he didn't need her help; his second thought questioned his first. Why? It wasn't much of a secret now that she knew of his burnt wrists, and she could to a better job on the dressings than he could with one hand. And he didn't have to tell her how the burns came to be if he didn't want to…

But why would he not want to? So far, Orabelle hadn't discouraged his mermaid thing.

Orabelle jumped up, her fingers touching the metal tin briefly before her feet met the floor for the nth time. She jumped again, her fingers touching more of the box this time, only to unintentionally push it back.

"Damn it…!"

She jumped once more, her fingers not even coming close to touching the metal box she was after. _Maybe if I climb up on the counter…_

She didn't get a chance to explore that option, because as soon as her feet hit the floor again, someone else grabbed the tin. Umi was behind her, unusually close, reaching over her head with the first-aid kit in hand. He was four inches taller than her. Just tall enough.

"You could just ask for help," He said softly. The mermaid then realized, from how close and clear his voice was, the exact location of his lips. So close to her face. So close to her ear.

For the second time in half an hour, unrelated to her flu, she was turning bright red.

"I-I could get it!" She exclaimed as she turned around. Her heart thumped loudly in her ears because of how close he was. Too close.

She placed her hands on the counter and lifted herself onto it. Now sitting, she took the kit from Umi and stuck her tongue out. "Now back up a bit and stop teasing me, or you can kiss your new bandages goodbye."

At first he had a look on his face that said he didn't want to, but then he smirked and poked his tongue out at her. "I'll try, but it's so hard," He teased. "You're just so _cute_ when you're flustered! That isn't _my_ fault, you know."

Her cheeks darkened to another shade of red. _D-did he just say…that I'm…n-no! Don't listen to him, he's just teasing me more!_

"Stop that!" She exclaimed resiliently, looking away. "I'm an adult! Teasing like isn't going to fluster me so much, so cut it out!"

_Or at least, it SHOULDN'T…_

He blinked, looking almost questioningly as he did. "You're fifteen, not exactly an adult yet, what are you talking about?"

_Oh, right, that's the mermaid world._

"Excuse me," She frowned. "My birthday isn't until December twenty-sixth. I'm fourteen, still an adult, thank you."

He shrugged. "Whatever,"

Orabelle put the tin down on the counter and opened it. There were many things in it she didn't recognize, but she only needed what she did recognize. Without warning, she grabbed one of his arms at the elbow and pulled it up until she found his wrist. She started unwrapping the gauze, almost carelessly.

"Careful," Umi complained, wincing from the sting of the gauze being pulled from his skin. "That hurts, I think it's sticking."

"Oohh…sorry," She apologized, taking more care now as she pulled the last of it off.

Maybe it was because she was already sick, or because the burns were really that bad; whichever it was, she could feel her stomach turning when she examined his wrist.

"_Wow_…that is…truly _disgusting_."

"Gee, thanks."

She bit her lip as she looked. It appeared his skin had been melted off and then seared until the bleeding stopped, with several large scabs thrown in the mix. Reluctant to see the damage of his other wrist, she went to work on removing the sloppy bandages around it; it appeared to be just as bad. He would have a hell of a pair of scars when they fully healed.

"How did this happen?" She inquired softly, feigning shock in her tone.

_Like I don't already know…_

Umi was quiet for a moment. Finally, he said, with a bit of a troubled voice, "I would rather not talk about that, if you don't mind."

She grimaced as she reached into the tin for the hydrogen peroxide. "Alright…move it to the sink," She ordered, holding the brown bottle up. "This'll make a mess."

He winced again when he saw the bottle. "Oh man…t-this is going to hurt _so much_…"

"Don't be a baby," She said childishly, "It isn't possible that it'll hurt more than whatever it was that happened to you, it only stings a little."

Umi only frowned.

When he didn't move, Orabelle reached into the tin again and pulled out a transparent, rectangular bottle that said _Isopropyl Alcohol_ in big print on the label. "I could use the rubbing alcohol instead, if that's what you want. No bandages until I know they're clean."

Umi sighed. "That's evil," He stated, turning around to making his way to the sink.

Orabelle returned the rubbing alcohol to the tin, hopped off the counter and met him at the sink. She paused for a moment, swaying dizzily to the side. She would go lay down after this, she thought, or she would vomit from vertigo.

She screwed the small white cap off the bottle and set it down on the edge of the sink. Umi took a deep breath, preparing for the worst, and held his arms out over the basin.

She almost didn't want to apply it, but it had to be done. The mermaid lifted the bottle and carefully poured the clear, watery liquid over his skin, or what was left of it, anyway. It foamed up and turned white on contact.

"That _REALLY_ stings," He complained. Squeezing his eyes shut, he asked, "How long does it have to stay on?"

Orabelle turned one of the knobs water knobs. Cold water began to stream out of the faucet and small drops bounced out of the sink.

"Just until it stops making that fizzy sound," She answered, twisting the cap to the peroxide bottle back on. "Which should be about…now. Rinse it off."

He didn't need to be told twice. Eagerly complying, he let the cold water wash away all the white foam. Orabelle disappeared from his side, returning the peroxide bottle to the first aid kit and reappeared by Umi a second later with one of the fluffy yellow towels.

"Was that as bad as you expected?" She asked, holding the towel out. He shut the water off and took the towel.

"Worse," He groaned, clearly exaggerating while he dried his wrists and hands. "It felt like it was burning what's left of my skin away."

Orabelle rolled her eyes. She went back to the other side of the room, lifted herself back onto the counter and went through the first aid kit, pulling out gauze, gauze pads and medical tape.

"You act like your wrists are just scratched, but when it comes to cleaning them out, you cry. What's with that?"

He glanced away. _Ah, that is kind of embarrassing…_ "I wasn't crying," He mumbled awkwardly. "Don't pick on me, I'm injured."

"…what about the day after I smashed my nose up?"

"Does revenge have to be today?" He ask, nervously running his fingers through his hair. He DID tease her so much that day, after all…

Orabelle stuck her tongue out again. "Get your butt over here," She said playfully, unrolling a bit of the gauze. "Or no bandages for you."

...

Five, six, seven, eight…twelve steps to the top. Maria started up the stairs, not in the least bit enthusiastic to deliver the bad news again. Once was enough to last for the rest of her life.

_That's peculiar,_ She thought, reaching the top of the stairs. _No one's here, why's the door open?_

"Orabelle?"

No answer.

The amount of silence filled her with overwhelming dread. What if the sea demons found Orabelle? Maria wouldn't be able handle them on her own, especially not after yesterday.

Or maybe she was unconscious again.

The blue-haired girl took in a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves before she went in to investigate. Instead, she just found herself quaking in in her boots. She tried again, still without any effect.

A sound came from the other end of the hall. She couldn't tell what it was she just heard, but it sounded like the yellow princess. Now less frightened, Maria went to find it.

"There, done."

"That's way better than what I did."

"…you could say thanks."

"Oh, yeah, thanks. Hey, isn't that the ribbon you've been wearing around your neck?"

"Hm? Oh, I forgot to put it on, I was trying to answer the door first."

"Here, give me your hand."

Maria peeked her head in the bathroom. Orabelle was still sitting on the counter at the far left of the room. Umi was in front of her, his new bandages exposed, tying the thick yellow ribbon Orabelle wore around her neck on her right wrist.

"Orabelle…?"

The aforementioned brunette tilted her head, spotting Maria in the doorway. She smiled widely at her appearance.

"Maria!" She exclaimed happily. She hopped off the counter and promptly fell from the sickening effects of vertigo. She never did hit the tiles of the floor, thought.

"Gotcha," Umi said, setting her back on her feet. "Geez, you really just want to fall all of the time, don't you?"

"Oh, shut up."

"What'd you do to piss gravity off?"

"Don't pick on me," She said, pushing his arms away. "I'm sick. I'll cough on you."

"I've probably already caught it," He responded. He then turned to Maria and said, "I'd stay away from her, unless you want the flu."

"O-oh…"

"Don't say that," Orabelle snapped. It felt like it had been forever since she last saw any of the other princesses; something could have happened in that time. They still had to save the sea world, after all, it isn't going to happen if they stay apart. "…snappy."

Maria took another deep breath; she had to speak up now. She had never, ever asked anyone to leave before. There were things she needed to say, but couldn't, because Umi was there. Just how to ask, she wondered? What was the politest way?

"S-sorry Hibiki-san, b-but…" She started, searching for the right words with a small pause. "Orabelle, I kind of…need to speak to you…in private..."

The South Pacific Princess's heart sank at that moment. Wasn't that what she had been waiting for? But now it didn't sound so good.

"It's alright," Umi said, stretching his arms above his head. "I have to go anyway, get home before it starts to rain _again_. It was nice seeing you Orabelle, thanks for that~"

And with that, the brown-eyed boy was out the door.

"Odd…" Maria said quietly, almost to herself. "What was 'that'?"

Orabelle's features changed into a questioning look as she approached the girl standing under the doorframe. "I don't kno- actually, he probably meant the crappy bandages I fixed. His wrists? Not a pretty sight."

"Ah…"

"Anyway…" She sighed. "What's the bad news?"

Maria bit her lip. Having to explain the situation again was not even in the hundred-mile radius of fun.

"About that," She started, unaware that she was averting her gaze. "I-it's…it's not good…"

"Rose isn't here," Orabelle said suddenly. Then she frowned. "Awww, don't tell me she caught my flu!"

"N-no! That isn't it!"

Orabelle's heart sank further in her chest. "Then what…?"

Maria took another deep breath before attempting to explain calmly.

"Yesterday, on our way here from school, Rose jumped into the ocean. She didn't tell me what she was doing, and I couldn't swim fast enough to keep up…I-I think she was hypnotized, but I don't know. And there was another mermaid, an orange one, and another water demon appeared…I tried singing, but in the end I just started bawling again, because it didn't work. I-I don't know where Rose is now, the thing vanished, and I spent the rest of yesterday looking for my pearl, because I was stupid enough to throw my microphone…I'm really starting to hate myself."

Orabelle took her words in, one by one, and felt her heart sink so far that it probably would have fallen out of her ribcage by now if it wasn't being held in place.

"We'll…we'll fix this."

…

SO MUCH CRYING. And. The bow on Orabelle's wrist. WHY did it take me so long to write it in? Stupid me. It was part of her original character design and it's chapter NINETEEN now.

And now onto the review responses.

Misha12: Not by a long-shot~  
Reiko: asdfghjkiuytgfvbnjkl thank you :,D Andand ummm, maybe orange or green?


	20. Keep It Short and Make It Fast

HEY HEY HEY. GUESS WHAT.

TWO CHAPTERS! Because this one is a short one and I had it finished like, a week ago. But I didn't want to leave people hanging with a cliff hanger and a short chapter. And now, onto responses~

Haruka; I knoooowww :U Burns can be really ugly while healing. And, don't worry, I've never forgotten about this for a day.

Misha; something like…13 I think? But what took me so long, like I said, I finish the chapter months ago, but it got wiped clean, I got pissed, and didn't want to write.

Orangutang; THANK YOU~! :D About the Aqua thing…I wish I was thinking when I created her :U I'd seen so many Sea Goddesses with Regina dropped off for another name, so I thought that was right. But it's too late to go and fix it now D8 Annddd I'm not surprised that I misspelled 'Rihito', I always do that. Misspelling Licht, on the other hand, how did I even do that? I'm so durpy somethings orz But, Rihito IS the Japanese word for the German word Licht, which means Light. I'm not sure how that works out, but it does.

… ...

"A-are you sure about this?"

"Completely, yes."

Orabelle could only wish she felt as confident as she sounded. They were potentially not coming back, after all; it was only natural that she would be nervous. Unfortunately, feeling nervous didn't help her think, and right now, she needed to think.

Maybe tracking down a water demon who was unaffected by their singing wasn't that dangerous.

…and maybe the string of profanities Rose wove on a daily basis wasn't still hanging over Japan in space.

She knew it was a bad idea, but what else could be done? With an inward sigh, she pulled the pearl radar from Rose's locker; if only she knew how to use it…the device was small, so it couldn't be too complicated.

"A-ahm…I-I'm just worried about this, sorry…"

"It's fine," Orabelle assured calmly, "There's no reason for you not to be, this plan was kind of sudden."

She pressed one of the buttons on the radar. When that didn't have any visible effect, she tried another, and this time, two green dots began to blink on the screen.

"Ooooh."

"So…what's this plan?" Maria asked, closing her eyes in attempt to clear the worry from her head and calm her nerves. It never actually helped, but she liked to think it did.

"We're going to draw the sea demons out," Orabelle replied as she studied the radar screen to determine which blinking dot was her and which Maria was. "This," She lifted the radar for a moment, "Is just in case they bring Rose. Since it was yesterday, whoever it was will probably be back looking for us today."

Maria then nodded, listening to the words of the yellow princess. They would be just fine if they drew out Amber or Layla, but if it was the one from yesterday…

"Mh…the sea demon we're looking for has purple hair, and looks like she's wearing a skin-tight fishing net. Also, I think she said her name was Galicia…?"

"Good, now I know who we're looking for."

"…Sorry, sorry sorry sorry…I should have mentioned it earlier…"

"It's alright," Orabelle said. She turned the radar to Maria, who then opened her eyes. Pointing to the dots, she said, "These two dots are us. I don't know which one I am or which one you are, but that's us. If a third dot pops up, it's most likely Rose. We're coming back, and she's coming with us. Okay?"

"Alright…but…"

"Hm?"

Maria pointed to a section of the screen, somewhere away from the original blinking dots. _Could Orabelle have missed this one?_ she wondered. …_no, it's not like it's invisible, it must have just appeared._ "There's a third one."

There was a moment of silence.

_Really? I'm not blind…is there really?_

"…a third…one…?"

Sure enough, a third blinking dot was shown onscreen when she looked back at the radar. Just the briefest moment of dysphoria clouded her mind.

It's was inevitably going to be dangerous.

Could she sing yet?

If not, how would Maria fare on her own? Every other day she didn't seem so confidant, yesterday left her hopeless.

_No, you can do this._

"We should go now. Probably run, before it disappears."

"Right."

Maria grabbed her umbrella and Orabelle shut the door to Rose's locker. While Maria had no problems getting out the door, Orabelle had to sneak by carefully. Alice didn't know a thing, and they didn't have time to stop and explain; enough had been wasted when Orabelle stopped to pull on her stockings and sneakers.

It was raining again when they made it outside. It wasn't much stronger than a heavy drizzle, but still dangerous for them. The indigo princess was already on her way to the beach, a few feet ahead of the yellow princess.

When she didn't turn up by Maria's side, the mermaid turned around, only to see Orabelle standing under the overhang of the café's roof.

"Orabelle…?"

"I should go get my umbrella," She said hesitantly. Really, there was no time, but if she was exposed…

"Come stand under mine," Maria uttered before walking back to the café. "I-I'm not the fastest runner, but it will save time…I thought that's what was going to happen? "

A sigh of relief.

"Well, I can't really breathe if I run," Orabelle replied plainly, "At least as a human, so I guess we're on par." She stepped under the umbrella and added, "Ready?"

"As I could be,"

With that as a cue, the girls hurried off through the cold rain.

… ...

With Layla gone, the undersea fortress was unusually quiet. No yelling, no screaming, no fighting. It was so quiet, the inhabitants could actually hear the sound of blood running through their veins and the echoing of heartbeats bouncing off the thick castle walls.

Resounding footsteps could be heard leading up to the prison room. There was a loud creak as large doors were pushed open, followed by more footsteps.

While briefly exploring the room, someone's hand found their way to one of the occupied prison pillars. The tentative touch to the glass only lasted about a second, promptly vanishing when the green mermaid within the tube manage to blink. As pathetic an attempt it was, it was still noticeable enough to surprise the intruder.

_It's just glass, she can't get out. What are you worried about?_

Once more flesh met glass, only not as cautious this time. This time, the mermaid didn't move. There was not a flinch, nothing except for a few bubbles floating to the top of the pillar.

"Pretty…"

There was a scoff. Not one that came from a person's mouth, but that of a shoe scraping against the floor.

"What are you doing in here?"

The intruder froze; she didn't have permission to be in this room.

"Nothing…" She, the intruder, answered as her hand jerked back from the pillar. The girl turned, looking for the owner of the other voice as she scanned the room with her yellow eyes, but saw no one.

"Then why are you in here?"

She flicked her tongue out, tasting the air. It was a dark color, almost purple, and forked. _There_, she thought, turning her attention to the back corner. Beside another empty glass pillar was a chair, and in that chair sat Sandy, who looked less than ecstatic. She closed her book and set it in her lap.

"I'm just…"

_Why_ was she there? The girl had no answer off the top of her head, and still no answer after thinking about it briefly. Why, of all rooms, did she enter this one? "I don't know…does it matter?"

"Yes. You might want to leave before you get into trouble." Sandy replied, frowning slightly. As the girl turned to leave, she added, "But before you go, your spy died."

The girl stopped. "My spy?" She repeated back as she turned around to face the other girl again. "The one in the North Pacific palace?"

"Is there any other I would be speaking of?"

The girl flicked her forked tongue out again, tasting the air like a snake. "I didn't know you were keeping tabs on my work. Died, you said?"

"I'm not, I don't know or care what you do as long as it's not in this room," Sandy stated bluntly. "I know of your guard because it's a popular story with the fish now. The Mermaid Princesses made a trip to the North Pacific castle recently and your spy, pretending to be a guard, attacked. Though being as weak as it was, it died right off when song was introduced. Better luck next time."

"And…? How would a story like that be popular?"

"Because the pink princess became violent. I may not have lived underwater long, but even I know that Mermaid Princesses never get violent."

"…interesting. Well then," The girl turned again, saying as she walked away, "I'll be taking my leave now. Bye-bye, Sandy."

"Just hurry up and get out."

… ...

"Careful!"

"Orabelle…do we _have_ to go in the dark, scary cave?"

"Yes, we do."

"Isn't there a way around it…?"

The yellow mermaid shook her head. "Probably not, I've been here before. Remember last time?"

Maria let out a small, inaudible sigh. It wasn't that she was _afraid_ of the dark scary cave, no, it was what could be _in_ the dark scary cave; large bugs, sharp rocks, broken glass, _spiders_…

"…Rose and I swam around it once, couldn't we do that?" She asked, hesitant to enter the cave.

"Again, probably not," She answered. _She's scared_, Orabelle notes. "Whoever it is on the radar isn't in the water, at most they're on the very edge of the shore. We should stay out of the ocean right now, in case there's a trap."

"Oh…o-okay…"

"It's alright," Orabelle said, taking the other princess's free hand. "If you get scared, just close your eyes. I know the way through, I'll guide you."

"…" Maria took a deep breath; _I'll be fine,_ She thought. Though thinking it didn't make her feel fine, and she was still reluctant to enter the cave. _We can't stand here all day…just get it over with, SAY something…_ "….o-okay..."

Already the girl had her eyes closed. She held Orabelle's hand tightly and began walking when it was moved forward, slowly and cautiously.

_Just a minute._

_Just a minute, and we'll be out…_

"Maria, you should probably open your eyes now. I don't want you to trip and we're about to be at the end."

"Are you sure?" She asked. At some point she could hear her heart beating loudly in her ears, possibly from claustrophobia, and if that happened to be the case, she didn't want to see just how small a space she was in. "I-I don't want to open my eyes to any surprises…"

"I'm sure," The yellow princess replied in a low, gentle voice. Slowly she let go of Maria's hand, leaving it to hang limp by her side. She tried to take Orabelle's hand again at first, but gave up when she couldn't find it.

_Now I have no choice._

Maria opened the lids to her amber-colored eyes and quickly looked around; it was just an empty cave, save for the sand. It was only semi-dark at the moment; Maria decided she wanted out before the sun went down. With only escape on her mind, she took Orabelle's hand one more, much to the yellow mermaid's surprise, and marched out onto the beach.

The scene they had found was a bit odd; the orange mermaid from yesterday, Clair, was in her human form, sitting by the shore with a seemingly sleeping Rose on her lap. The girl was brushing Rose's bangs with her fingers, almost playing with her hair as she hummed a melody.

Stunned, all Maria could utter out was, "How did you escape?"


	21. Colder Than Ice and More Than Annoying

Clair looked up, the humming of her melody already gone. "Escape?"

Something didn't seem right to Orabelle. Why did Rose appear to be asleep, and who was the orange-haired girl? How, and why, was she there with Rose, a mermaid, and…what did Maria mean? She frowned as she waited for something, anything, to be explained.

Though much to her chagrin, Clair and Maria seemed to be doing the same thing.

"What's going on?" She asked, cutting into the silence.

Gently, Clair moved Rose's head from her lap to the ground. She stood up and brushed the sand off her dress, taking her time as she did so. Finally, she said, "I'm not sure, you tell me."

"Just tell us what happened!" Maria snapped.

…_Maria never snaps._

"Are you okay?" Orabelle asked, giving Maria a worried look.

"No need to yell, Maria," Clair said calmly, "I'll explain it all. First, Rosalina seems to be unconscious. I've tried to wake her, but it's been no use. Second, how I escaped…should be obvious. I'm a Mermaid Princess, after all. Sea demons run away screaming and crying when your melody starts."

"I know that," Maria said quietly. She looked down to avoid eye-contact, and to hide the miserable look on her face. "I know that…I'm just not good enough for it to work right, apparently."

Orabelle's frown widened. "If it didn't work for Maria, how did it work for you?"

Clair shrugged. "I guess I might just be better or more powerful, I don't know. And who are you, by the way? I would assume you're a princess."

_Doesn't every princess have the same amount of power?_

"Orabelle," She responded a bit tersely, "Yellow Mermaid Princess of the South Pacific, Orabelle. And you?"

"The Orange Mermaid Princess of the Indian sea, Clair. It's nice to make your acquaintance, your Highness."

There was something about Clair that Orabelle didn't like, besides the fact she was making Maria feel even worse. So far, she hadn't done anything questionable; maybe, she thought, her negative feelings were just from where she had been in her room so long.

_Still…_

"I'm just wondering, how do you know Maria?" She asked. "And…" She pointed to Clair's neck, "Where's your locket?"

"Oh! She tried to save me yesterday," Clair replied, almost tensely. "And I…lost it, during the escape."

Orabelle's eyes narrowed. Something, just _something_ wasn't right about her.

"We'll have to get it back, then. But first, we should get out of here."

Maria wiped her eyes with her uniform sleeve. She didn't want the others to know she was crying again. She didn't want anyone to know she was crying, ever, though both were never going to happen.

"Clair," She murmured, looking up again. "How did you know my name?"

"How did I know your name?" She repeated. She looked and sounded a bit worried now, a drastic change from her indifferent façade before. "Well, Orabelle said it, didn't she?"

"No, I said it after you," Orabelle replied, raising a brow. "How did you know it?"

"Well…" She crossed her arms and frowned, "Maria's a Mermaid Princess, everyone knows her name in the sea."

"Except, she's been missing for almost sixteen years."

There was a tense moment of silence. Clair sighed and uncrossed her arms, then said, "Alright, you've got me."

"Hey!"

She grabbed the back of Maria's uniform shirt and pulled it up. Maria crossed her arms over her chest, trying to keep her top from coming off.

"What the Hell?" Orabelle exclaimed. Clair scrapped something off of Maria's back with her fingernail just as Orabelle pushed her away. "What are you doing?"

"Getting this," She said, holding up something small, thin and black.

"You put a leech on my back?"

"Don't be stupid, I couldn't have done it. It latched onto you in the water, I didn't put it there." She explained. "This leech is basically a bug, I've heard everything you've said in the past day and a half."

"Why would you do that!" Orabelle yelled angrily, "You can't actually be the orange princess-"

"I am," Clair interrupted, "Or least, I will be. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't like her Highness, she's just a bad princess. Anyone else would make a far better one, and I'm surprised her hair wasn't chopped off long ago."

The royal duo couldn't believe what they were hearing. It wouldn't be as stunning if someone else said that, but for a _mermaid_ to say such things was just unheard of.

"And to answer your first question, I needed to know when someone would come looking for Galicia. How else could Princess Rosalina have registered on your pearl radar right after you turned it on? And she's still in a trance, by the way, not asleep."

_What do I do? _Was the only thought that echoed through Orabelle and Maria's minds. They knew what Rose would probably do; she would punch the girl, most likely in the face or the gut. If not, it would be something else to cause Clair pain, and then she would walk away without another word. And that wasn't what either mermaid was going to do.

But just what _could _they do? What was the proper response to something like this, if there was one? They knew they couldn't just walk away; what would that accomplish? Clair would just strike again somehow. But why would she want to become royalty at a time like this?

"Wait!" Maria exclaimed, "Does that mean you and Galicia are-"

"Surprise!" The sea demon yelled, surfacing the ocean. The next thing either of the two knew, they were upside-down, pulling at the hem of their skirts to keep them from folding over.

"It's about time you showed up," Clair criticized. "And what was I to do if you didn't and they just left with the mermaid?"

"I would've got them back!" The sea demon exclaimed defensively. "But that didn't happen, so you don't need to be on me about it!"

Clair just shook her head. "Whatever, whatever." She walked closer to the upside-down princesses. Maria's face was already turning bright red Orabelle just looked the annoyed variety of upset. Clair was short enough that she couldn't reach them. "Oh, but why, WHY did you put them up high enough that I couldn't reach their lockets?"

"Maybe you should run the magic," Galicia sneered, "It's not as easy as I make it look."

"Or maybe, it's just a suggestion, you should get better at it."

"Or maybe, just another suggest, you put us down." Orabelle interjected, rolling her eyes. "Honestly, if you're going to do things like this, you should at least be professional about it. You seems like a couple of idiots."

Clair shook her head again. "Bitchy, aren't you?" She quipped. "But who's the bigger idiot, the ones bickering, or the ones in the trap? It'll give you a hint, it's not me."

"That only leaves you!" Galicia added. From the look on Clair's face, she wanted to call the sea demon an idiot. But she held her tongue, suppressing her desire to insult her partner in crime.

"Oh, god, what is this stupid sight?"

As if on cue, everyone turned their heads to the side. Several feet behind Galicia stood Layla, her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed. She looked less than enthusiastic and definitely more than irritated. On one side of her face was a large mark in the shape of Amber's hand, still red and throbbing and painful.

"Well?" She pressed when no answer came. "There's no competition here, I'll burn you both if it means getting the mermaid princesses."

"No one asked for you," Clair shot back. "If you were actually competent enough, you'd have had them by now, but you don't. We do, and we will eradicate your little sharing circle of small-time ocean disruptions if you get in our way."

"S-small-time?" Layla sputtered, "Brat, do you want me to burn you?"

Clair gave no response to the sea demon, instead yawning out of boredom and turning to Galicia. "We already have the princesses, we should go somewhere with no interruptions."

Paying no mind to Layla, who was fuming in the background, Galicia picked up Rose and carried her on her shoulder to the other three mermaids. "Grab on," She said to Clair as she took the other princesses' hands into hers.

"You aren't going anywhere!" Layla screamed angrily. Steam rose from the ocean water around her and smoke came from her hands. With one big, two-handed throwing motion, a large fireball was formed and sent flying through the air to her competitors.

Too bad for Layla, her fireball missed, exploding in the sand where Clair and Galicia used to stand. There were gone in a tornado of wind before the fireball collided into the earth. The woman let out a loud, frustrated scream.

Meanwhile, when Layla was throwing a tantrum, the group appeared in a castle. Orabelle and Maria fell, landing so hard on their feet that they were knocked over.

"Maria!" Orabelle exclaimed with a cough, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," She replied, rubbing her head. "Just…dizzy. Really dizzy."

Orabelle stood up again. Her knees hurt, and she, too, was dizzy. First from her flu, second from the large rush of blood to her head. She barely had a chance to collect her bearings when Galicia grabbed her wrist. Orabelle jerked her arm away, changing into her idol form when it was free. The sea demon had backed away for the moment.

"Don't touch me!" She yelled, _ordered_ loudly, frantically. "I am a princess and you shall not touch me with your disgusting, unclean, impure hands!"

"And what do you intent to do about it?" Clair questioned, though with general uninterested. "If you scream, the castle around us will crumble and flatten us like bugs, and your song only effects evil beings, unless you want to harm me too. If that's the case, you'll hurt everyone in this building."

_**DAMN IT!**_

Thoughts raced through Orabelle's head. She was thinking far too much and far too fast, yet at the same time, not at all. Her mind was clouded, and everything was, at the very least, half incoherent. Not a single, fully-understandable though rushed through her head, except for, _What do I do?_

"Indigo pearl voice!"

One quick flash of rainbow light later and Maria was standing at Orabelle's side, a very serious look on her face and her microphone by her mouth, ready to sing at any given moment.

It was then that Galicia decided to express her annoyance. "Both of you? Tch! This is why I don't deal with brats; they fight back too much, and they never listen. I don't understand why they do it."

"We're fighting back not because we can, it's because we have to! It's our job to!" Orabelle exclaimed strongly, with every bit of anger and independence she could muster. "It is our duty as mermaid princesses to protect the seas, our kingdoms, _our homes_, and everyone in it, from people like you! Do you understand that?"

"Save your breath for someone who cares," Clair dismissed. "It's a waste here and there's nothing you can do about it. A bit of yelling won't change our minds. Now hush up."

"No, she's right," Maria chimed in, hiding the nervousness in her voice by keeping it low. "You've lived in the sea at some point, have you not? What you are doing will disrupt all order. Besides, you can't just decide to overthrow the Indian Princess simply because you think you would be a better ruler-!"

"GOD," Clair exclaimed, every note of annoyance clear in her voice. "You really _don't_ shut up, do you? I already said I don't give a damn, why do you two continue to talk? And _you_," She gave Maria a disapproving look, "You've spend your years on land snacking on who-knows-what and tea, playing with humans and not even bothering to go back to the Arctic kingdom and let everyone know you're still alive! Don't even act like you know anything about what's happening when you don't!"

Maria almost regretted saying anything. Her heart was thumping loudly in her chest, so much that she could barely hear over the drum-like sound in her ears, and she felt even dizzier than before, but not from being upside-down; rather, it was from a mixture of anger and the urge to break down in tears. Rarely, if ever, did she get mad, and even more scarcely did she lose her temper. Never before had she wanted to smack somebody.

Today just happened to be a very bad day.

"Don't act like YOU know _ANYTHING_!" She yelled, breathing heavily. "You DON'T know me, and you DON'T know what happened! DON'T SPEAK AS THOUGH YOU KNOW ME, AND _SHUT UP!_"

"Someone grew a spine!" Galicia nearly cheered, exaggerating her surprise. "Are you going to cry now? Oh, I would love to see you cry again! Prove just how bad a princes you are!"

"Just shut her up," Clair ordered. Galicia obeyed with a snap from her fingers; Maria's legs went limp and she fell to the floor, eyes closed, breathing shallow, completely silent.

Orabelle dropped to her knees by her side. She lifted the princess' head, shaking and tapping it lightly in attempt to wake her. "What did you do?" She demanded angrily, though she already knew the answer.

"Do I have to put you in a trance, too? I can't carry three mermaids, but I will find a way if I have to."

_What do I do?_

_WHAT do I DO?_

Just one thought that kept appearing in her mind, over an over to the point that thinking was getting tedious. There was nothing she could do. Clair had explained why she couldn't sing, and she wasn't a physical fighter like Rose. She was helpless.

She was just like a human.

Slowly she stood back up. If there was nothing she could do she would try what she couldn't. She didn't need to defeat Clair with a song, just Galicia. If it didn't work, it would, she hoped, snap Rose and Maria out of the trance.

She brought her microphone up, but before she could sing a single note, someone threw open a large pair of doors behind her. It was then, she realized, she didn't bother to ask where they were, not that she had the chance to, or look around.

"Who goes there?" Boomed a voice. There was no reaction from Clair or Galicia, and even though she had expected a voice, it startled Orabelle.

"Stop yelling and take us to the king," Clair snapped.

"This way," Came a grumbled response. Orabelle turned to find out who was speaking; it was a man, that much she knew for sure. She only saw his back, as he turned before she did. He was wearing something that resembled a helmet, and gold-colored armor. There was also a large set of wings on his back, almost like that of an angel's, only the feathers were brown and black, and, she noted, he had feet like that of a bird.

A harpy.

She had read of their existence during her royal studies, but had never actually seen one until now.

"Move it," Clair commanded, grabbing a handful of Orabelle's hair. Without giving her a chance to move, she marched forward.

"Hey! Stop that!" Orabelle complained. "Let go!"

Small tears formed at the side of her eyes. Her hair was sensitive to pulling, making her scalp feel like it had been jabbed with needles every time someone yanked on one of her tresses.

She had no choice but to follow the guard and orange mermaid. Down a hall, down another hall, and another hall, and _another_ hall…she almost wondered if he knew where he was going. Even her palace didn't have this number of halls connected to each other.

But at last, at the end of this hall was another set of large doors. Like the walls, they were white, and the handles were large and gold. Once the doors were open, Clair, Orabelle, Galicia and the two in-trance mermaids were lead inside.

The room was enormous, Orabelle noted. The walls were light orange with small white swirls, and along with the floor, appeared to be made of marble. The ceiling was very high, making more than enough room for the harpies that flew around, and the side walls were made of glass. Against the back wall, right in the middle, was a gold throne with red cousins. There also happened to be someone sitting in the throne.

"You highness," The guard said, "There are people who would like to speak with you."

"Clair, let go of that girl's hair," The man in the throne said. He sounded both bored and amused. "It's rude."

Half-rolling her eyes, Clair let go of the golden locks.

The man in the throne didn't look to be too much older than Orabelle, in his early twenties at the absolute most. His hair was shoulder-length, choppy and the darkest shade of black she had ever seen. His eyes were as blue as the sky, maybe even lighter, and he was dressed in a way that made him look a bit more like a mage than a king. He also didn't look like a harpy.

"Dismissed," He said to the guard, then switched his attention to the orange mermaid and the sea demon as the guard flew off. "Now what's going on here?" He asked with amused interest. "Fish weren't mean to fly."

"Do you actually want to know what's going on, or do you just want to make cracks that you think sound witty?"

"Oh, but I'm too full of wit." He said, practically jumping out of his throne. "But, forget about that," He walked over to Clair and poked her forehead. "Tell me what's going on. I mean, you were the ones who barged in here, right?"

"Once you shut up and stop spouting annoying nonsense."

"Stop aiming for my jugular."

"If you stopped acting like a spoiled child who uses others as toys, I might."

"Whatever," He replied. "Now explain who the two sleepers are and why this girl," He poked Orabelle next and she batted his hand away, "Is giving you the death stare. Now."

"You know who they are." Galicia said, pulling Maria and Rose of her shoulders and setting them on the floor. "They're three of the seven Mermaid Princesses."

"Ooohhhhhh! Well, they're very pretty, but why are you bringing them to me? They're a more major part of your plan than they are mine."

"Well I need someone to deal with them," Clair explained. "I'll be using the power of their pearls, not them. Basically, I need somewhere to store the bodies."

"And you expect me to do it because…?"

She sighed. "We've gone over this, stupid. One by one I will overthrow the other kingdoms until Galicia and I rule the whole ocean world. And then you make the water agreement with me, not that useless Aqua-_whatever_. We both get what we want, and I expect you to help instead of just sitting back and collecting while we do all the work."

"Fine," He sighed, "I'll help, but it depends."

"…On what? I'm not up for games, Eris."

"_King_ Eris," He corrected. The king turned to Orabelle, who cringed at first. He just pulled her forward again, wrapping one arm around her waist and pulling her close, as if they were about to dance. "What this pretty princess says could change things. You know I don't care who I make the agreement with, as long as it gets done."

"What agreement?" Orabelle asked, trying to wiggle away. It didn't work.

"Oh, you don't know?" He took one of her hands and twirled her around. "Haven't gotten there in your studies? Well, it's just something your sea goddess deals with. The clouds, rain and snow are all made up of her ocean, as you may know, and by extension, your waters. This is the sky kingdom."

"Oh…" She stumbled, falling to her knees. She could feel pressure building in her throat, bile attempting to make its way out. She tried to keep it down, and decided if he tried to spin her again, she would vomit on his shoes.

"Are you alright?"

"Just sick," She said.

"Awww, that's no fun," He reached down and grasped her hands, pulling them up until she was back on her feet. "But anyway, not going into too much detail, it's an important agreement that needs to be made. It's expired since your god went missing and it needs to be renewed."

"Eris, we already decided on this!" Clair snapped. "I rule the seas, we make the agreement. You can't go changing things like that so suddenly!"

"_KING_ Eris," He corrected again, calmly but irritation clear in his voice. "And I just said I don't care whom with the agreement is formed. The sea world's in some war, right? I would honestly rather deal with Aqua than someone who might not even take over, and even if you do, it'll take you longer to do it than it will for the war to end. I'm not that patient, you know, and you can't make me wait so long for it."

Clair, fuming by now, crossed her arms, frowned and glared. "Should I just wipe you out now and do it anyway?" She asked sharply. "I don't care about making the agreement with you, you know, I just want to rule the world's oceans."

Eris matched Clair with an equally cold look. "What, you want to challenge me? Just you and your _single_ contracted sea witch?"

Starring daggers at the king, she said, "Don't underestimate us. I will if I have to."

"…tch. You know, maybe you should wake them up. Harm them in your attack and ruin your plans, why don't you?"

"Hm?" Clair turned; he meant the two other princesses, didn't he? "Fine," She said, giving Galicia a look. "Do it. See if I care, there's nothing they can do here, other than be as annoying as him."

Galicia obeyed, clicking her fingers to wake them up. Slowly Rose and Maria's eyes opened. They sat up, holding their heads.

"What…what happened?" Rose mumbled, disorientated. She blinked a few times, taking in the scene. She didn't know where she was or what was going on, and the sound of the harpies chirping confused her more than anything, but quickly decided that she should transform from mermaid to idol and deal with any danger, if there was any.

She transformed out of sheer will, without her 'Pink Pearl Voice' incantation, and stood up. She wobbled slightly, but it didn't take long for her to get her balance back.

"What's going on?" She asked, rigid hints in her voice. "Someone tell me, because I'm not asking again. I will wreck shit if I have to."

"Calm down!" Eris said. "Jeez! You mermaids really do have quite a temper sometimes, don't you?"

"Shut it, pretty boy."

"Rose, calm down," Orabelle told her. "I don't know either but what you're doing's not going to help."

Maria stood up next, right by Rose. She was less disorientated than the other princess, but just as wobbly. She grabbed Rose's hand and pulled her back.

"Stay away from that little…that brat," She told her, scowling, albeit softly, at Clair. "She's not on our side."

Rose gave her a confused look. "…the fuck?"

"Hey! Order in the court!" King Eris said loudly, clapping his hands together. The chirping of harpies and the words of mermaids went silent. "There will be no fighting in here, ladies. None."

"You know what? I'm sick of this already." Clair stated. "Galicia, destroy him, take their pearls. Everything will be so much easier once the bodies are out of the way."

Galicia snapped once more and the glass walls shattered. The harpies fled the room, chirping and screaming loudly, flapping their wings frantically.

"What was that for?" Eris yelled, throwing his arms up. "I liked those walls!"

"…the bitch is fucking shit up and he's worried about the _walls?_" Rose said in disbelief. "Just _what _did I wake up to?"

The castle started to shake. Dark clouds gathered outside and the rumbling of thunder could be heard. Galicia rubbed her hands together quickly, at first creating little purple sparks, until it turned into full-blown lightning.

"Fucksticks!" Rose exclaimed. She grabbed Maria's arm and dove to the side, knocking them both down and avoiding a large bolt of lightning that scorched and cracked the marble floor greatly.

"How cute!" Galicia cackled, "You honestly think you'll be just fine doing that?" She shot another bolt of lightning, this time at Orabelle and the king, but missed. Instead it hit the back wall, scorching and cracking the marble like it did the floor. "If anything, it's more likely to get you killed!"

"Be more careful, witch," Clair ordered tersely, "I want you to deal with them, not make the whole castle crumble when we're still in it. And I want their pearls in perfect condition!"

"Fine, fine! Understood!"

"Well you're not getting them!" Rose yelled. The live stage formed around her and Maria, shining brightly. Orabelle bolted to the light sphere, joining the other two princesses.

"Have as many wins as you want, we only need one." Maria added.

"And if we don't beat you this time, we'll keep trying until we do!" Orabelle exclaimed. The sound of music filled the room, but it wasn't their usual song. This one was different, though still light and upbeat. Not one of the three knew the words,

"Pich Pichi Voice, Live Start!"

"_Bokura wa kono basho de  
Yume wo mitsumete ita  
Kagayaku hoshi ni oitsukeru you ni  
Nani mo nai basho kara  
Hitasura aruite iku  
Tatta hitotsu no hikari wo tsukamu tame ni  
Ima susumu~_"

Lightning struck the spherical stage and, much to Clair and Galicia's displeasure, it did no damage. At most, it made the stage shine even _brighter_. Soon the sea demon was covering her ears and wailing in pain.

"_Mawari ni nagasare  
Tachidomaru hibi  
Subete ga MONOKURO ni miete ita toki ni  
Te wo sashinobete kureta nakama ga ita  
Hitori ja nain da to  
Hajimete kidult_

"_Tsumaduitemo  
Tsuraku nattemo  
Tada mirai dake wo shinjite  
Kanaeru tame  
Furimuka nai  
Tachidomaru hima wa nai_

"_Bokura wa kono basho de  
Yume wo mitsumete ita  
Kagayaku hoshi ni oitsukeru you ni  
Nani mo nai basho kara  
Hitasura aruite iku  
Tatta hitotsu no hikari wo tsukamu tame ni  
Ima susumu~_"

By the end of the song, Galicia had turned into, or rather back into, an eel, flopping about on the floor at Clair's feet. After so much flopping, she kicked the eel away effortlessly and scowled heavily.

"Star Dust Pitch!" The princesses exclaimed happily. "Would you like an encore?"

"I'll be back," Clair scoffed. She turned to leave, but couldn't. Eris was blocking the exit.

"Not so fast," He said, "You wanted to kill me. Do you honestly think I would let you walk away after that?"

"Just get out of my way." She ordered. "You belong to the sky, not the sea. Therefore, you have no control over me."

"But we do,"

The live stage faded away. Rose, Orabelle and Maria walked up behind Clair, not one of them looking particularly happy with the girl.

"We don't have the Indian ocean princess here with us right now," Rose started, "But Orabelle's closest to the Indian ocean. You deal with her."

"But punishment isn't exactly what I do," Orabelle replied matter-of-factly. "I think maybe Maria should do it. I've never seen her so angry, or angry at all, actually."

"Oh? What did I miss?"

"Furious yelling."

Maria blushed brightly. They didn't _need _to be talking about her outburst, it was embarrassing her.

"P-please stop talking about that," She said shyly to the other two princesses. Then, to Clair, she said coldly, and still awkwardly, "We'll let you go once. If any of us have to deal with you again…um…"

"This is exactly what I was talking about. You don't know anything-"

"You shut your bitch mouth." Rose interjected calmly. "You don't know shit, either. If we have to deal with you again, you will be banished to the deepest part of the Mariana Trench for the rest of your life."

"…that's cruel."

"Unfortunately, I don't give a fuck."

"How harsh," Eris commented.

"Not harsh enough. Now how do we get out of here?"

"How to get out?" Eris gave them a look, almost as if he didn't understand why Rose asked that. "Well, I would assume you jump out the window and fall until you land in the ocean."

"That would hurt," Orabelle replied, "Isn't there another way out?"

"Well…there is this magical staircase thing out the front doors, but anyone who could show you out fled when the glass broke."

"And you can't do it?" Rose asked, rolling her eyes.

"No, I can't, actually." He answered, "You'll have to find your own way out, unless someone's still around to lead you out. But _you_ know the way out, don't you?"

Clair glared at him. "Like I would help them out."

"It's your choice," He said with a shrug, walking back to his throne. He flopped down in the chair and crossed his legs, looking quite smug as he turned back to the mermaid. "You an either lead them out, or I can have you cut up and fed to the birds."

She said nothing and she didn't move. Maybe she was thinking it over, or just refraining from answering. To Rose, it didn't matter what it could be; she grabbed a handful of orange hair and pulled her along out the doors.

"I'm not waiting for your damn answer," She said, almost unheard over Clair's complaining and orders to let go. "Go ahead and be a bitch, just remember that I'm not so patient."

"I like her," Eris grinned, "Bit of a nasty mouth, but…~"

"We'll be going now," Orabelle said, holding one of the doors open for Maria to pass through. "And I apologize for the mess. Hopefully nothing like this will happen again."

"Oh, I don't care about the mess," He replied, waving a hand. "My walls, maybe…but anyway, we'll be seeing each other again sometime soon, when the war is over. Until then, goodbye."

With Eris's farewell as the last words, Orabelle left the room, the door behind her closing by itself with a slam.

... ...

Rose is such a foul-mouth :U

Okay, new song. Remember a few chapters ago with Orabelle's headtrip with Marina, and then her shell glowing? That's when they got it. It's called 'DreamerS', and it's sung by Nami Tamaki. Obviously I don't own it.

And now, on to writing the next chapter~


	22. Tell Me Sooner, Not Later

Hi hello my name is Savannah and I can take forever to write.

Actually that only applies to 'filler' chapters (a.k.a. shit that has nothing to do with the plot.)

Also yes, to answer that question, Eris will be back~ And the next chapter is, thankfully, not filler and will probably be churned out really fast. I won't get anywhere with it today though, there's a pre-release Magic: The Gathering tournament today and I'm being told it's all day long. And I'm going. YAY. ANYWAY. Story time.

EDIT: Hopefully I fixed all the verb tenses! Thanks for pointing that out, Misha, I knew something was odd, but somehow I couldn't figure it out. I really should only write when I'm fully awake .

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

It took a while to make it down the staircase. They started so high in the sky that they were surrounded by clouds, to the end, where the last step was just a foot above the ocean. Less than halfway down, Rose had gotten fed up with Clair being uncooperative and pushed her off the steps, sending her down, down, down through the sky and into the ocean with an impressive splash.

Once the princesses made it to the last step and into the ocean, they swam back to Japan. It took several hours, and by the time they had reached the beach, it was already quite late. The girls rushed home; Orabelle explained her whereabouts to Alice without a problem, Maria had to lie and say she had lost track of time at Sucre Rêves (though somehow she felt that Shawn didn't fully believes her), and Rose didn't have to explain at all, as she lived alone in a near-by hotel.

The next morning started as usual; the girls would wake up, get dressed, have breakfast and get on their way to school.

Orabelle walked with both hands behinds her back, holding her school bag and quietly singing to herself. It was yet another cloudy day, and she still felt sick, though not as much as she did yesterday.

"_Kogareru omoi ha, maichiru hanabira ne~ suki ni natte ii no? soretomo…~_"

"What're you singing?"

The sudden question startled Orabelle. She stopped singing and whipped her head around; walking beside her was Umi, smiling softly.

Her heart fluttered. For a moment, she felt as though she couldn't breathe, and that she hadn't had any air in quite a while, even though in reality it was actually just two seconds.

"J-just something I heard," She managed out once she could breathe again. It wasn't a complete lie; she had heard it before, but only when she sang it. Obviously she wouldn't tell Umi that, he was already close enough to her mermaid form.

He nodded. Orabelle felt a bit of relief that Umi believed her. As long as he didn't ask or say anything else related to her mermaid side, she would be fine.

"You know, your singing voice reminds me of someone I know…" He mused

Her heart skipped another beat.

_SHIT_.

Was that really too much to ask for?

"Yeah, mine." She responded instantly. Hints of worry were in her tone of voice, but Umi didn't seem to notice.

"I'm not sure about that, I've never heard you sing before now."

"Oh…" She frowned. Orabelle couldn't think of any way to talk herself out of the potential metaphorical hole she was digging, but luckily, she didn't have to.

"ORA~BEEELLLLLLE~!"

The two had not realize they already arrived at the front schoolyard until Rose had begun yelling. With one arm linked around Spencer's, she ran over to Orabelle and Umi, dragging the blond, who was tripping, along with her.

"Rose, stop it! I'm going to fall!"

"Good morning to you~! And to you~!" She happily chimed at the pair. "I hope you've got your history papers finished, because I sure don't~!"

"You sound happy about that," Orabelle replied, giving Rose a nearly-sideways look. To mermaids, anything that did not pertain to ocean history wasn't important to them, but Orabelle couldn't grasp why Rose found it alright to fail anyway.

"Because I'm in a good mood today!" She happily exclaimed, twirling around without letting go of Spencer. The blond was forcefully spun with her, protesting loudly as he almost tripped again.

"Rose! Stop that!"

"Spen~cer! Suck it up!"

"Hey! That hurts!"

"Only if you bruise like a soft peach!"

"No, you're just really strong for a girl!"

"And you're very weak for a boy!"

"That's not my fault!"

"I know it's not!" Rose wrapped both arms around the boy's neck and pulled him close. With no personal space left, she rubbed her face against his. "Oohh, but it's so cute that I have to protect you sometimes! So utterly fucking adorable!"

"Rose, you're crushing my glasses!"

"That's enough," Umi interjected plainly. "Honestly, Shinju-san, do you have to alienate every person who steps into your personal space?"

Her eyes narrowed. "I didn't plan on alienating Hoshi, bitch did that herself." Rose replied, suddenly very serious as she let go of Spencer, "And I should introduce you two! Jerk Romeo, this is Spencer, and Spencer, this is my very dear, but sometimes horribly cranky, mother."

"Hi," The blond said nonchalantly, fixing his glasses.

"I'm not your mother!" Umi exclaimed, ignoring the other boy.

"Whatever you say, mama."

"Hey, stop it!" Orabelle said loudly; she didn't like the tone of their voice, they didn't exactly sound friendly.

"And if by somehow, some cruel force of nature had made me that, you wouldn't have turned out so bratty!"

"Yeah right! I bet you're shit with kids, just like you are now!"

"Only as horrible as your attitude!"

"Well I guess I should be glad that I don't have a mother then!"

Orabelle let out a heavy sigh. _Every damn time! _She though angrily.

Those participating in a fight had so far yet to quit when she told them to, and she doubted if they had even heard her in the first place. Maybe she woke up on the wrong side of the bed today, or accumulative negative emotions were forcing their release, perhaps it could be from her orders, as a princess, being blatantly ignored, or even possibly she was still upset after the Clair incident; whatever it was, she didn't have any tolerance for this right now.

"Alright then!" She exclaimed, loud enough to get their attention. She pushing passed the two and said, "Okay, you know what? Screw you both, I'm going to class."

"Orabelle!" Rose and Umi exclaimed in unison, forgetting their fight for a brief moment. "Wait!"

"No thanks," She replied with a harsh but somehow polite tone as she walked. "If no one will listen to me, there's no reason to be there. I'll see you later."

"She has a point," Spencer agreed, also turning to leave. "Class calls. I hope you sort out whatever it is you have going on, bye-bye."

"Spencer!"

The bespectacled boy sprinted when he heard Rose call him. He just knew she was going to chase after him, get him on the ground and sit on him until he apologized for running off.

And when she didn't, he was surprised.

"Do you see what you did?" Rose and Umi yelled at each other, once more in unison. Both were irate with the other and unwilling to back down, and the only thing that would stop them for the time being was the school bell.

Rose didn't care. It was just another argument, and just another person who didn't like her. Umi, on the other had, was disappointed and angry with himself; stopping the fights is what he did, not joining them. Especially such petty ones.

The academic day sped by on rocket skates. Or it seemed to, as Orabelle wasn't that focused on class, no matter how hard she tried, and every lesson would dash by before she could absorb any information. Maria was out sick again, and Rose had changed from her recent boisterous personality to her more serious and volatile self upon entering the classroom. Most of her time was spent throwing dirty looks and glares back and forth with Hoshi (one of them somehow clearly conveying "if you even say anything to me, I'll smash your head against the window and use the blood to paint little broken hearts on the wall") and ignoring everyone the best she could.

The walk back to the café was uncomfortably quiet. The girls had not spoke to each other since the fight, and neither could think of a thing to say.

_Damn, this is awkward_. Rose thought as she kept pace with Orabelle. She felt gauche, and wanted to apologize, but couldn't decide how to start. _What do I say?_

She sighed. Today was just one of those days.

Orabelle, on the other hand, didn't feel awkward, but she did feel irritable, an emotion she wasn't all that familiar with. _Maybe some chocolate will help. _Yes, chocolate, she would get some once she got into the kitchen. It wasn't like Sucre Rêves had a shortage of it.

Finally, half-way to the café, Rose took in a deep breath and said, "I actually googled what a pensato is."

"…what?"

"Don't you remember the day of the nosebleed incident?" She asked, "We stopped by the beach after school? And Aqua Marina appeared?"

"Just barely," Orabelle replied plainly, almost dismissively. "I don't even know if I remember it correctly, I did lose a lot of blood and spent the rest of the day out of my mind."

"Yeah, well, she mentioned the word 'pensato'." Rose nearly snapped. "Except she meant a person. But anyway, a pensato is a written note on sheet music that's meant to be seen, not heard."

"Ah. Maybe it has something to do with why we're having sea demons thrown at us, instead of this mysterious Pensato dealing with us directly."

"Yeah, can't be a proper villain if no one can hear you monologue," Rose snorted. "But we also still don't know who this Agent asshole is."

"No, but that does reminds me of something."

"What?"

"When I was sick and still unconscious, I saw Aqua Marina," Orabelle admitted, "And she said we have someone else to find."

"Oh great!" Rose exclaimed exasperatedly. "It's not enough that we have to somehow find the other princesses while hiding out on land, which we should really get back to, by the way, but someone else has been added to the list? Fucking Hell, we're aquatic clusterfuck half-breeds, not miracle workers. This person better be important."

"She said he could help," Orabelle shrugged. "And something like, he's got light-brown hair and purple eyes, and I think his name was Amir. I know nothing other than that."

"Might as well just tell the jellyfish spy network to keep an eye out,"

No reply.

It was silent again. In any case, they were near their destination, so just a few more minutes of quiet would not be so awkward. In a short amount of time, they would be walking through the glass doors of the café. They would be greeted by the permanent smell of chocolate and sugar and fruit and cream, and they would run off to change, then to the kitchen for orders.

In just a few minutes, that's exactly what they did. They pulled off their school uniforms, trading them for their striped work dresses and white aprons, and went to work taking orders, delivering drinks and the like, cleaning tables and seating people.

"I could really use my skates," Rose said after a few hours of work. She was currently carrying a tray of dirty glasses and bowls and silverware to the sink. "I could go a lot faster with those."

"As long as they don't scratch the floor, you can wear them." Alice replied.

"Then I'll bring them tomorrow."

Alice loaded another silver tray with two parfait glasses, overflowing with whipped cream, chocolate-dipped pretzel sticks, various fruit slices and ice cream. "I think I could use a pair of skates, too."

"Might want to learn how to move with them on first, if you just strap them on and start walking, it'll end painfully."

"I know, I know…"

Just then Orabelle came through the swinging doors. She held a silver tray close to her chest, and her apron was covered in splatter marks from chocolate and cream. She didn't look even the least bit happy, especially not when she slammed the tray down on the counter.

"What happened to you?" Rose asked, clearing everything from her tray into the sink. "Drop something?"

"No!" Orabelle snapped.

"Don't bite my head off, I didn't do anything wrong."

Orabelle untied her filthy apron and threw it on the table. "I get irritable sometimes too."

Setting her tray of parfaits down with a frown, Alice asked, "What's wrong?"

"That…_that_…that _bottom-feeder _dumped her damn mousse on me, _on purpose!_"

"Wait a second!" Rose exclaimed without a thought, "When did Hoshi's bitch-ass get here?"

Just after she spoke, Rose realized that it probably wasn't Hoshi. _Thanks for jumping the gun, self._

"Four minutes ago!"

…_that was unexpected._

"HEY!" Alice yelled. The princesses then went quiet; as far as they could remember, no one had ever raised their voice at them. It startled the two, even more so because the first person to do so was Alice. "Now that I have your attention, tell me who this girl is."

"She's that fucking bitch-"

"_Without_ the use of profanity."

Rose took a breath and then said, as calmly as she could, without her usual excess of unnecessary expletives, "She's that…_that vile little uncouth cur _who harasses us at school. I, for one, would be glad if she perished in a conflagration."

Alice sighed. "And you said she intentionally dumped her mousse on you?" She asked Orabelle.

"Yes. I've no reason to lie."

"…I'll go deal with her. Table?"

"Three."

"Alright. Get that tray"-she pointed to the silver tray she had just loaded with colorful parfaits-"to table eleven. Move."

Without another word the blonde woman went out the doors. Orabelle grabbed a clean apron from a stack on a metal shelving unit by the freezer. She tied it on as she went back to the counter with the tray. Rose cursed loudly, startling Orabelle and almost causing her drop everything on the floor.

"FUCK!" Rose shouted again, hitting her fist on the counter. "She's a fucking fuckwad of a goddamn fucking shit-faced motherfucking cunt-rag asswipe shit-sucking raging jerkass douchebag _**bitch**_!"

Orabelle grimaced. She was still not acquainted to the foul language Rose loved to utter so very much. It was like dropping an elephant on a trampoline made of plastic wrap and toilet paper tubes, if trampolines could feel pain. Only, Orabelle's eardrums were the trampolines and the elephants were Rose's vulgarities. "Feeling better?" She asked.

"Much," Rose replied, closing her eyes and taking another breath. "I don't like speaking those proper, princess-y words anymore. It requires too much damn thought and just makes me sound annoying and stuck-up. I can be annoying, but I'm not stuck-up."

"…I see."

Rose grabbed her tray. "I'm going to go clean more tables and shit." She said, hurrying out the doors.

Orabelle made a face. Rose always acted odd, but somehow she seemed more so than usual just now. _Whatever_, she though as she lifted the silver tray, _there's bound to be an explanation later._

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

If there was one thing Orabelle hated about her job, it was washing dishes. Some orders were so loaded with things like caramel and melted sugar and sticky fruit that would dry out fast, that once the plates and bowls made it back to the kitchen, they were near-impossible to clean. Usually they would have to be scrubbed ten times over to get most, if not all, of the edible superglue-like substance off. And by the time said dishes were so clean, there was no point to having a dishwasher.

And if there was two things Orabelle hated about her job, the second would be carrying trays with parfait glasses stacked on top.

They weren't hard to clean at all; no, her problem with them is that they always seemed ready to fall. The glasses were wider at the top and thinner at the bottom, and shook a whole Hell of a lot when they were moved on trays. If even just one fell, a whole twenty minutes would end up wasted on apologizing, cleaning up the mess, making a new one, apologizing again once it was delivered (slowly this time), and then explaining what happened to Alice before requesting a different style of glass be bought for the parfaits, and that was without the glass for the parfaits breaking.

Orabelle was already in a bit of a foul mood, so dropping a glass or two would just make the rest of the day 'perfect', in the most sarcastic sense of the word. Luckily, she was able to keep the creamy desserts from toppling over during her short journey from the kitchen to table eleven.

Most of the time, excluding repeats, she didn't recognize any of the customers at Sucre Rêves. Every now and then someone she knew from school would turn up, but usually it was just Hoshi and her friends.

Unless Hoshi just bleached her hair and changed tables, that was not her. It wasn't Mio or Aya, either. In one chair sat Spencer, who looked like he was trying to dig a hole through the table with his face, and across from him was another blond who, oddly, looked like him. Of course, he didn't have the glasses, or even the freckles; his hair was a darker blond, too, and his eyes were light sapphire instead of Spencer's turquoise.

"…no, really, stop it." Spencer was saying as Orabelle approached the table.

"Stop what?"

Spencer groaned loudly as he pulled his glasses off. He lifted his head, just slightly, before letting it fall back onto the table with a quiet banging sound. The silverware rattled against the table and the drinking glasses shook.

"Aw, did you forget how to use your words?" The other blond asked, his tone both patronizing and playful. He placed one of his hands on the back of Spencer's head, but the French boy smacked it away.

"Olivier, knock it off!"

"I…should have let Rose take this one."

By the time Orabelle realized she let something slip out, both the boys were staring at her. Well, at least one of them; Spencer hadn't put his glasses back on, so he was looking around aimlessly.

"I can't see you," Spencer said, feeling around the table for his glasses, "But I can hear you. Orabelle, you might want to run far, far away."

"You might want to listen to him," The other blond, Olivier, said. "I mean, he knows your name, that should be frightening enough."

"Olivier!"

Orabelle shook her head at that, almost if to say "ridiculous,". She placed both parfait glasses on the table with care where the cream wouldn't dribble down the side. "I don't see how that's bad," She replied, taking Spencer's glasses from the other side of the table (somehow they had 'magically' moved from one to the other). She placed them right next to his parfait glass. "Besides, it would be far worse if certain other people knew my name."

Spencer put his glasses on and saw that, whether she knew it or not, Orabelle had a melancholic look on her face that said "trust me, I know."

"Well, enjoy the parfaits," She added suddenly, replacing that sad look with a smile. She left, not to the kitchen, but to the front door to seat more guests.

"Don't say anything," Spencer said, all but stabbing his spoon through the parfait.

Olivier frowned. "All I was gonna do was make another punny joke."

"_UUGHH_. I could just start smashing my head against the table again."


	23. More Harm Than Help

It was Tuesday night, the thirteenth, almost six whole days since dealing with Clair. Maria was still out sick for two of those days. Rose and Alice were already accustomed to wearing roller-skates at work (Orabelle avoided wearing them because she was already clumsy enough) and they had been collectively avoiding the ocean, as Layla had attacked them six times in a span of four hours on Saturday.

It was late, that much Maria knew; she hadn't bothered to check the time before sneaking out, but she could tell that she had arrived early. During the day, all three of the princesses made plans to leave at night for the Arctic kingdom. By Rose's estimation, they would arrive before noon in the Arctic Circle if interference wasn't being run.

So there Maria sat on the beach, under the dark ocean in the sky full of stars. It was quiet for the most part, unless you counted the little unidentifiable noises that most would miss or ignore. Of course, Maria couldn't do this, so she spent her time there with her wits scared out. To her, Rose and Orabelle couldn't arrive soon enough.

Next to arrive at the beach was Rose. She didn't appear quietly though; while she wasn't loud, she was clearly cussing about her hair (something along the lines of, "Stupid fucking angel wings, always gotta fuck up and go to shit when you fall asleep with the bitches in…"). Then came Orabelle, who complained it was cold. Her top may have had long sleeves, but she was wearing small denim shorts.

"Honestly!" Rose exclaimed, pulling her light-pink scrunchies out, "You both just got done being sick, short skirts and booty-shorts aren't going to pass. It's getting fucking cold out here."

Orabelle only shrugged at this. "I've never been cold before. I guess I'm not that used to a human body."

"And I didn't have time to change," Maria added. "I took the first escape opening that presented itself. I still live with someone who doesn't know about…this. Remember?"

"Yeah, whatever," Rose replied plainly, all interest lost in arguing her point. "We should get going now, before the shit that goes bump in the night decides to tag along."

"On it," Orabelle said as she approached the ocean. She ran forward, as fast as she could through the water in hopes to make it out of the shallow stuff before transforming. Rose and Maria were right behind her.

The first to transform was Rose, still in the more shallow part of the ocean, and then Orabelle, who made it out a bit further before changing. Last was Maria, who made it out the furthest because her boots were knee-length and made of faux leather.

"Last call," Rose said as she swam out to Maria and Orabelle. "If either of you two still have anything you wanna do before we go, now's the time. There's no guarantee that we'll return."

_Anything I still want to do?_

"I'm clear," Orabelle replied instantly.

_Well, there is something, in case we don't come back…_

"Maria?"

She stuffed her thoughts into the back corner of her mind, the one filled with cobwebs and darkness and obviously hadn't been cleaned in a good while. There wasn't time for something as trivial as what she was thinking when more important things had to be dealt with. She needed to go back to her kingdom, she hadn't been there since she was a baby. And to the mermaid world, she was still a child; that needed to be fixed right away, come Hell or high water.

"Y-yeah…I don't have anything."

"Okay then, we're gone."

Hours.

They had been swimming for hours now. Through the deepest parts of the ocean, through the changing temperatures, through the coral reefs and around schools of fish. Their fins ached from having no breaks, but not one of them wanted to risk having a moment of rest if the water demons could find them.

It might have been from the recent disturbances, but something was amiss; though they swam by Rose's kingdom at the beginning of their journey, they had seen no mermaids. Even now, so close to the Arctic kingdom, not a single mermaid had crossed paths with them. On one hand, there had been no distractions, but on the other, it reminded the royals just how bad a shape the marine world was in.

Then finally, they saw it. The Arctic Palace; it glimmered with a pristine perfection that the mermaids had not seen in a long, long time. It only made sense that Maria's palace was still in immaculate condition, everyone from the plankton to the jellyfish knew that the princess was missing. Most suspected her of being dead, but as it turns out, that was far from true.

"Th-that's really mine?" Maria almost blurted. She turned a nice shade of red; speaking without thinking was not something she knew how to do.

"Of course it is," Orabelle replied happily.

"We wouldn't have brought you here if it wasn't," Rose added. "C'mon, nearly there!"

Rose went off with a sudden burst of speed. Orabelle and Maria followed behind, not as closely as they tried to, but they both knew and accepted that Rose would always be faster. She did slow down once inside the castle to keep from swimming into other mermaids.

Much like the outside, the inside of the palace was deep blue and unsullied. Archways and balconies and pillars were a common sight throughout the castle, as was the abundance of mermaids in various shades of dark blue. Maria had dreamed about visiting her kingdom before, but now that she had arrived, she was anxious to _leave_. Now that she was actually there, she felt that she was not qualified to rule it.

She, of course, would not tell Rose or Orabelle that.

Quietly she followed them through the castle. Even if it did turn out that she was not fit to rule, she was still their princess, and this kingdom was still her responsibility, like it or not. Maria was at least grateful that she could not focus on her thoughts at the moment; so many mermaids whispered to one another about the shocking sight of the royal trio that, even though they whispered, it wasn't quiet at all. In fact, one might not be able to hear themselves think because of the noise level.

Without any warning whatsoever, a precipitous shriek pierced the whisper-filled hall. It didn't sound like a terrified cry, and it probably wasn't; not a single mermaid seemed to be worried about it. In fact, they were shaking their heads and rolling their eyes and saying things like "Here we go again." and "What is it this time?".

The shrieking voice belonged to the elder mermaid who was currently hightailing her way through the hall. She was plump, and her hair was beginning to gray. She wore a white beach sarong with blue shells tied to the fraying bottom, and a hair band made of lustrous alabaster pearls.

"Your Highnesses!" The shrieking mermaid then exclaimed dramatically, "Oh! Dear Aqua Regina and all the flying fish in the sea, what has brought such majestic royalty to us today?"

The princesses, at this very moment, could only be described as so: Maria, with the demeanor of a deer caught in the headlights of a speeding freight train; Orabelle, with her brow furrowed in confusing and a expression that could only be called 'The Flat What'; and Rose, who looked about ready to whip out a book of Vogon poetry and kill everyone in the castle by reciting it through her e-pitch at maximum volume.

"Um…sorry?" Was all Rose could immediately utter out in response. "Lady, I'm not really sure what that was all about, but it worries me."

"My Princess, there is nothing to be worried about!" The other mermaid replied with a bow, "I'm just astonished at your appearance today! It is the lost Princess's birthday, after all, and the journey here was definitely not a safe one. Anyone would be amazed!"

Orabelle, mostly out of her bewilderment now, scratched the back of her head and chimed in with, "Yeah, about that-"

Her voice fell on dear ears though, as the elder mermaid wasn't listening. "Oh, but you didn't come to see me. Right this way, right this way," The mermaid said, turning tail to swim the other way. "I know what you came to see, this way, you both."

Rose frowned. "_You both_?"

"Well, it makes sense that she wouldn't know Maria," Orabelle replied. "It's been sixteen years today, remember?"

Speaking of the Indigo Princess, Maria still looked frighten and frozen. Not just from the shrieking mermaid (though she did help), but more because this was the point of no return. She was overflowing with nervous energy and her heart beat so hard she almost couldn't hear anything else. _There's no reason to be so nervous_, she told herself, _If Orabelle and Rose can do this like it's nothing, I should also be able to._

If anything, telling herself that only made it harder for her to believe. She didn't know how to run a kingdom, and what if she screwed up? What if it was a _**big**_ screw-up? She didn't want to admit it, but Clair was right. She didn't know anything about this.

"Hey Maria, can you hear me?"

"Ah!" She didn't know who said that, but it did snap her out of her stupor. "S-sorry, what was that?"

"I said, we're moving." Orabelle repeated, starting forward. "Come on, we can't go without you,"

With a burst of speed, Maria followed her friends. Rose was already far ahead of them, saying something that sounded like "follow the crazy lady, shit doesn't end well when you do that…". Said crazy lady wasn't much further in front of Rose, but probably didn't hear the pink princess. If she did, she didn't seem to concern herself with it.

A short swim past many pillars and whispering mermaids later, the four were at the end of the hall. It lead to a large, mostly empty ballroom, with even more pillars and balconies on the left and right walls. Perched against the back wall was the largest, bluest clamshell Maria had ever seen. It was open, and the bottom half was full of indigo pillows. In the dead-center of the shell throne sat the darkest pillow, with elegant gold stitching and tassels on the corners.

Atop it was a, intricate, gold tiara made of pearls.

Maria was then grateful that she was a mermaid. Underwater, you didn't have to breathe as much as you did above the surface, and right now, she felt that she couldn't breathe. She could try, but it would feel forced, unnatural.

"My ladies, please wait here!" The innominate mermaid said dramatically, "One moment, please!"

She sped out the room through an entrance under the balcony of the right wall without looking back at them.

"What _is _that crazy bitch doing?" Rose asked quietly, almost to herself. Orabelle shrugged as a reply.

"I don't know, but she's certainly eccentric. It's kind of annoying."

"Also doesn't seem to listen. Sorry if it sounds weird, but it kinda pissed me off that she interrupted you and then decided to play _Follow The Leader _all by herself."

"How is that weird?" Orabelle asked innocently, "Maybe it's a princess thing, but it bothered me too. I guess we're both not used to having people not listen. Or at least, I'm not."

"No, I'm not either," Rose replied, "And speaking of not listening, that can't happen if you're not speaking. Mariaaaa, your brain-captain didn't abandon ship, did it?"

Orabelle turned her gaze to the smallest princess. For a second, she thought that Maria was blushing. But then she realized, the girl wasn't; the red on her face was splotchy, uneven, and the whites of her eyes were bloodshot. Perhaps if she was above water, there might have been visible tears.

"Hey birthday girl," Orabelle started softly, "What's wrong?"

Shaking, Maria instinctively wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "I really don't think I can do this," She croaked, "I mean, I don't know what I'm doing, I'm no good at speaking to people and I just know I'm going to be forced to speak to a whole crowd of beings I don't know. What if I screw up, or they don't want me here? I'm really no good when I get nervous…"

It took her a moment to realize Orabelle had embraced her. The yellow princess had one hand on Maria's head, petting her softly. This calmed her…and reminded her of what her mother used to do when she cried in her younger days. _N-no_, Maria thought sadly, _She wasn't actually my mother…but…_

If anything, it made her cry harder. She didn't want to hate her birthday; in fact, she didn't hate it. It just upset her. Today was not just her birthday, but the death anniversary of two people she loved. She was tired and stressed out, and utterly dreaded the next hour.

"Oh, is that all?" Rose asked with soft sarcasm. "It doesn't matter. You go and make those bitches worship you, because you are their fucking _amazing_ princess. You, not anyone else. And hey, if that doesn't work, you can just win everyone over by being yourself. You're a teary-eyed ball of cute, you know."

Maria sighed. "Crying isn't cute-"

"_Hurry! They don't have all day!_"

"Aw fuck," Rose muttered exasperatingly, "Crazy lady's comin' back."

Orabelle released Maria, and the three turned to attention. The elder mermaid swam back in through the same door she had used to leave, and behind her was definitely not a mermaid. Far from a mermaid, actually; it was a boy, probably not much older than Maria. Where mermaids had tails, he had a pair of legs, and where the indigo mermaids all had long, blue-colored hair, his was short, wavy, and creamy blond. He was dressed in white princely attire, with accents in the more purple shades of indigo.

"Madam, please, calm down!" He was saying, but the mermaid wouldn't listen to any of it. "Clara-!"

"Prince Silo, please!" She said incredulously, "It's rude to focus on me when the North and South Pacific Princesses are here!"

Orabelle sighed with irritation. "Once again, about that-"

"Dear child!" The mermaid, now known as Clara, yelled at the sight of Maria. "What are you doing here? Royalty only!"

"LISTEN TO PEOPLE WHEN THEY'RE TALKING!" Rose snapped loudly, a scowl on her face. "_Goddamn_, lady. Just, goddamn. We didn't come here to answer your fucking annoying questions and yelling-"

"_OKAY_," Orabelle interjected, sounding more awkward than she wanted to. She could hear Maria barely stifle a whimper, and knew right away that this wasn't helping. "If we could move on, please…there _is _a reason for why we came here."

Rose crossed her arms. "Oh, fuck it. Yeah, there was."

There was an awkward pause. Everyone was waiting for someone else to speak up, as long as it wasn't Clara. She was quiet, so the princesses considered it a plus.

"S-so, about this birthday th-thing…" All eyes turned to Maria. Her face turned an even red. To hide this, she looked down, letting her bangs curtain her face, and moved her hands behind her back to keep her awkward, nervous finger-twiddling out of sight. "I-it…it wouldn't…wouldn't happen to…have my name on it, w-would it?"

She let out a nervous laugh. She stopped crying, but she still felt horribly out of place and worried and upset and stressed, all at once. She had already cried, maybe the laughter was her last defense in social situations. It'd been so long since the last time she had laughed.

"Actually, it isn't any name I would recognize," She continued. With her right hand, she played wit her shell locket. She decided that would look, and feel, better than staring at the floor. "I cannot recall what my name used to be, it was so long ago. I suppose it was a lot less generic than Maria..." She traced her fingers along the lines of the shell and the little angel wings, and hoped she didn't sound as pitiful as she thought she did.

"S-S-Seraphim?" Clara stuttered, utterly dumbstruck. "Seraphim?" She clapped her hands to her face, the tips of her fingers meeting over her nose and the bottoms of her palms over her mouth.

"Was that my name?" She asked softly, "And I thought Rosalina was a little much."

Orabelle gave the aforementioned princess a skeptical look. "Rosalina? Your name is really _Rosalina_?"

"Shut up!" Rose exclaimed, her cheeks turning bright pink to match her tail. "I was really little and still believed all that fairytale crap and wanted a princess name! Is it really so surprising?"

She thought it over for a moment. "Actually," She said, "Knowing you, that does sound believable."

"And if we're gonna talk about names that are just too much or unfitting, what the Hell kinda name is _Orabelle_?"

"Didn't you ask me that after we met?"

Rose laughed. "Oh, the nostalgia." She brushed her hair to the side, away from her right eye. "So, 'Seraphim'-"

"You'll have to prove this," Clara interrupted, staring disbelievingly at Maria. "A mermaid jut swims in here after sixteen years of absence and calls herself a princess? I'm sorry, how am I, or anyone else for that matter, supposed to believe this? Even if you did come with two known princesses-"

"_**OKAY**_, you can get the fuck out!" Rose all but roared, pulling on her pigtails out of frustration. "Go! Git! Shoo! Move your ass! Fuck off already!"

Now was the time the boy decided to jump in. "Er, madam, maybe you should let me handle this," He said to Clara, "Not to be rude, but your presence here is…a little less than helpful."

Clara let out a big, dramatic sigh. "Fine." She said. She turned, and swam out into the hallway that she had originally entered the ballroom through.

"I'm very sorry for that, Your Highnesses," The boy apologized sincerely, "Honestly, I don't know why she acts like that."

"Whatever," Rose instantly responded, "Now who are you, and why should we care?"

"I'm very sorry for that, too. I didn't have a chance to introduce myself; I am Prince Silo, and I have been taking care of the kingdom since Princess Seraphim went missing."

Maria sucked in a breath, filling her lungs with water. _Right, this isn't air, that won't help…_ "I-it's nice to meet you," Maria said hesitantly. "And th-thank you for that."

Orabelle and Rose curtsied the best a mermaid could and let Maria do that talking.

Prince Silo took Maria's hand in his and kissed the back of it. "And it is lovely to meet you, Your Highness."

If the color had faltered from her face, it returned right away.

"Th-th-thank yo-ou…"

There was another silent moment. Neither knew what to say next, but as usual, Rose beat the silence out of the room with a barbwire-wrapped baseball bat. "You're not going to ask for proof that she's really the princess?"

"I don't need to," He said, gazing over at her. "You can easily dress like royalty as a mermaid, but unless your pendant has wings, you can not be considered royalty. Her pendant has wings, and common sense tells me you confirmed her royal status before you arrived here."

Rose smirked. "I like you. You think."

"So anyway, how do we go about announcing this kind of thing?" Orabelle questioned, glancing over to Maria. "I mean, we can't exactly send Clara through the castle screaming about it. Somehow I think the inhabitants would banish us for that."

"They would," Silo chuckled nervously. Realizing he still held Maria's hand, he let it go. "Leave it to me, I'll get everyone gathered up and Seraphim can announce it herself. As for you two, Princess Rosalina, Princess Orabelle, I suggest going to the royal guest rooms. It's very early, and you both look tired."

"Much obliged," Orabelle yawned. "Which way?"

The Prince pointed to an exit on the left wall. Orabelle nodded and swam off in that direction, Rose following close behind.

Maria bit down on her bottom lip, hard enough to hurt and turn it red. She was alone now, with someone she didn't know. She thought it even worse because she was left with a _boy_.

She couldn't tell which worried her more, that, or the oncoming increase of her stammering.

"Shall we, Princess Seraphim?" He extended his arm with a sweet smile. Cautiously, she linked her arm with his. She hoped he didn't notice her slight shaking, and that her face wasn't too red, because right now it felt like it was on fire.

"Please, j-just call me Maria."


	24. I Didn't Mean To Upset Anyone

Okay, so quick note on the chapter title; Maria is sorry for being a crybaby. I'm sorry for not updating in forever. I was trying to write up another two chapters at once, but my laptop killed a half-written chapter again and once more I spiraled into a writing strike. This chapter here is months old :P Notes at the bottom!

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Many, many things turned Maria into a sobbing, trembling mess of nerves and blue hair. Nasty school rumors, for example. Spiders, breaking things, public speaking, just to name a few more. Evidently, the announcement of her return did not go so well. And that was an _understatement_, considering it led her to flee to her room and lock the door where she could cry in peace. Once the news was out, a good seventy percent of the kingdom revolted, and she could understand why; they did not want an inexperienced ruler who decided to _just now _show up. The only ones not to revolt were the royal staff, ambassadors, and a small handful of the populace. That wasn't even the worst part.

She still had a coming-of-age ceremony to go through, and she was not looking forward to spending a few hours at an extravagant, possibly pretentious birthday party where over half the attendees would throw her dirty looks and regard her the same way they would a tick (even if they didn't know what a tick was). That might end up _worse_ than the announcement.

Maria buried her face into one of the bed pillows and continued to cry. Unlike those in her mansion bedroom, she didn't have to worry about soaking the pillows on this bed with tears.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Orabelle awoke four hours later to someone beating on the door. She sat up calmly and rubbed the sleep from her eyes, already sure of whom it was. It wasn't too hard of a guess for her, especially after she heard the yelling.

"Orabeelllllle! Wake up already! Come on! Get up! We're going to the nometeria! ORABELLE! GET UP! The Prince also wants to talk! It's rude to keep royalty waiting, I know it would bother you if someone did that to you! Orabelle! _GET UP!_"

Orabelle yawned (a human habit not so easily rid of) and slowly left the bed. She was far too tired for this, but someone had to stop Rose before she smashed the door to splinters. She turned the handle and opened it just slightly, mumbled something unintelligible to Rose, and once the pink mermaid stop beating the door, Orabelle left the room.

"Finally!" Rose exclaimed, throwing her arms up. "I know you're tired and all, in fact I'm ready to kill over right here from exhaustion, but we have shit to do."

Orabelle rubbed her eyes again, but everything was still blurry. "What do you mean?" She asked.

"First, we have to find out what just happened here, because apparently it wasn't good," Rose said, raising a finger. Then she raised another and added, "Prince Silo can help us with that. Second, we find out how we fix it. Third, we need to ensure the party preparations are being made, because we _did_ just show up out of nowhere, and fourth, we need to get Maria out of her room. I tried smashing her door too, but she didn't wake up."

Orabelle stretched her arms above her head. "How could anyone sleep through something like that?"

"Dunno," Rose shrugged. "She must sleep like the dead. But anyway, like I said, Prince Silo is waiting for us in the Om-Nom-Nometeria, so we should be going that way now."

Orabelle, not knowing where such an oddly-named place would be, just followed Rose. They swam down a hallway, through the large main room of the palace, and down another hallway. At the end was their destination, and only then did Orabelle realize Rose was talking about the dining hall. She let out a small 'oh' as she entered the room, left wondering how Rose knew where it was. Did she trade sleep for exploration? Or maybe she looked around after waking up? There were few answers to that question, but Orabelle didn't bother to ask it.

Much like the dining hall in the South Pacific palace, there was an arched doorway in the back of the room, leading to yet another hallway. Rose and Orabelle went through it.

This hallway was shorter than the rest, and in the middle was a very long, very blue table with tens of silver and indigo chairs pushed in. The left wall was nothing but small pans of shiny, see-through material, and above the table hung a resplendent, glittering chandelier.

Prince Silo slouched in his sat at the end of the great table, patiently awaiting the Princesses. He looked rather bored as the mermaid beside him, Clara, prattled on and on about something or other he didn't particularly care about. When the princesses did arrive, he perked right up. Now was the time he would interrupt her long-winded speech of dramatics.

"Er, Clara," He started as he sat up properly, "That's enough idle chatter for now, isn't it?"

A questioning look appeared on the mermaid's face. She turned her head to see the royals swim in, and understood what the prince meant. Clara frowned widely, but left without another word.

"Geez, I bet saints wished they could have the patience that you have." Rose remarked. She took a seat at the end of the table, to the right of the prince.

Silo let out a sigh of relief. Another melodramatic ramble and he might have gone postal. "They would only need a third to make it through life," He replied with slightly-forced calm, "Keeping Clara close means she's not off alienating the rest of the ocean. As you might have noticed, she tends to get…under some scales, to put it nicely."

Orabelle sat down on Silo's left, just opposite Rose. "I've noticed," The Princess said with a nod of agreement. "She is very…loud."

"Volume is just the least of it, I'm afraid."

Rose cleared her mind, and tried to prepare herself for polite conversation as she took a large crab leg from the platter in front of the three. It wasn't something she was too used to these days; maybe two years ago, when she was still taking social and etiquette lessons, but not now. It was getting more and more difficult for her to speak without profanity as the days went by, and as much as she didn't like it, she found her speech sounded forced and unnatural without it.

_Clear, clean thoughts, no curses, no cusses, no fuckery_. Rose thought as she snapped the leg in half. She frowned to herself at the last word. _Aw fuck. I can't do this right_.

"I know it's rude to speak and dine at the same time," Rose started to say, carefully planning out her words in her thoughts, "But Orabelle and I actually have a few questions that we would like answered before too long."

"Ask away," Prince Silo replied with a small grin, "I'll answer anything you want to know, Princesses."

"Okay, let's see…" _What to ask first? _"What exactly…well, this might sound rude, and I do apologize for it, but what are you? You look human, but you couldn't possibly be."

"Sea spirit," He answered. "Most take the appearance of mermaids, ghosts and sirens, but generally they appear as beautiful beings. The more powerful ones can take the appearance of anything, much like myself."

Orabelle tipped her head to the side, almost if to emphasize what she was about to ask. "Wait, but don't your kind call humans out to the ocean and drown them? What are you doing down here?"

He chuckled nervously. "Ah, yes, about that. Most sea spirits don't realize humans cannot handle the water like sea life can. They do call out and lure humans deep within the ocean, but they only intend to play amongst the coral reefs with them. The ones with intent to drown humans are sirens, but many confuse the two because they both make humans want to go in deeper until they can no longer breathe. Sirens hypnotize, while sea spirits do not. If you've ever had that feeling of the sea calling to you, that would be a spirit."

Orabelle nodded in understanding. As he spoke, she took her own crab leg and struggled to break it in half, but the orange crustacean limb wouldn't even crack at the joint.

"As for why I'm here…well, there aren't many people to play with in the Arctic. I've lived around the castle for most of my life, playing with the mermaids instead, and after the princess' five-year missing mark passed, it started to get…well, ugly. Someone had to do something until her return, and being one of the more powerful sea spirits, I was already considered something like royalty. The rest of the story from there is fairly obvious."

Impolitely reaching across the table, Rose snatched the bumpy orange leg from Orabelle and held it out in front of her. She pressed her thumbs in towards the center of the leg, and with a bit of effort, she snapped it in half.

"Damn," She mumbled, passing the broken pieces of the crab leg back to Orabelle, "It didn't want to go."

Orabelle took the leg parts and set them down on the plate in front of her. "Er…thank you."

Rose let out a small laugh. "Alright, so anyway"-she turned to Silo-"what happened with that announcement? I haven't been awake too long, but I heard it didn't go well."

He sighed. Judging by his newly-perturbed expression, Orabelle and Rose knew they wouldn't like this explanation.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Layla had been so happy when she heard the news of the mermaids leaving for the Arctic kingdom. This was her ticket back into Agent's good graces, after all; she may have not brought back a mermaid princess as of yet, but she knew where to find them, and maybe-_only_ maybe!-with a spot of that bitch Amber's help, she could bring all three back. Of course, when she had told Agent of this plan, he decided that Amber, Angelita and himself would also go along, leaving Sandy and the girl with the purple hair behind to watch the fortress.

Another to hear the news was a fish, who in turn told a clownfish, who then told a dolphin. Said dolphin swam through the ocean just off the coastline of Queensland, Australia, looking for someone specific. This someone had very long, very curly purple hair in high ponytails and a great number of body piercings. She was out for one last swim before the sun set completely, and was surprised to see a dolphin pop its head out of the water just as she had surfaced, repeatedly bumping its head against her side.

"_Hey there,"_ She said telepathically, stroking the dolphin's nose. _"What's with all the bumping?"_

"_I have something important to tell you!"_ The Dolphin said back, _"The Arctic Princess! She's returned! She's at the castle right now, along with two other mermaid princesses!"_

The mermaid could feel her heart stop for a split second. The Arctic Princess, back where she belongs? After so many years? It wasn't possible! But the princess had to be if she was receiving news of it, right? _But what if it's a trap?_

"_Are you _completely, _positively sure of this?"_ She asked, somehow sounding breathless.

"_I heard it from a clownfish!"_ The dolphin replied with a combination of excitement and bewilderment, _"And the clownfish heard it from a pink salmon, which saw them leave with its own eyes!"_

_A salmon saw them leave…? _The purple-haired girl's head was spinning. How could this be? It wasn't impossible, but it was unbelievable. And because it was such, she decided she would check it out for herself.

_Oh, Jory is going to be PISSED when he finds I've left without a word…_

She dove back under the water, her purple tail peaking out above the ocean briefly before vanishing completely. With a strong kick, the mermaid sped off north.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Orabelle groaned; Rose smacked her forehead on the table. Really? Honestly? More problems?

"Pardon the language, but you're _really fucking serious_ about this?"

Prince Silo nodded weakly. He wasn't too pleased with the situation either, but it wasn't like he could change the mind of anyone with the click of his fingers. "If I knew how I could fix it, I would do it right now. But I don't."

"This is just fucking perfect," Rose muttered, lifting her head off the table. "Just how the Hell are we going to clear this clusterfuck?"

Orabelle grimaced a bit at the expletives, but tried to ignore them. "I know how," She replied with the tone of someone who had just swallowed something a little too sour, "I just don't like it."

Silo frowned. "Dare I ask?"

"Can't be a bigger shit-pile than things are now," Rose remarked.

Orabelle could only wish. She folded her hands and placed them on the table, recalling what she had learned of the yellow pearl's history. "Actually, it can be." She explained, unease accenting her voice, "The only other case of something like this was in 1648. Mermaid Princess Nania of the South Pacific shirked her responsibilities as a Mermaid Princess because she fell in love with a human. She ran away to be with him, leaving with the princess pearl and without a word. Three years later, their relationship shattered, and she returned to the kingdom. The people didn't want back her back at all, and would not accept her as their princess. In her absents, a siren was appointed leader; the only way they would take her back was if she either married the siren, or dueled him in a swordfight."

Once Orabelle had finished, Rose hit her head on the table again. "Well _fuck_," She uttered, clear enough that it probably echoed out into the dining hall. She sat up afterwards, now with a large red spot on the center of her forehead. "I'm guessing she married the siren?"

The yellow princess nodded. "Correct. And even then, they still didn't want her back. It wasn't a good time for the South Pacific, and in fact, I'm a little surprised that I even exist."

There were frustrated sighs and nods and glances all around. Prince Silo had met Maria only four hours ago, and even he could see that she could barely handle answering questions, much less wield a sword. Just what happened in sixteen years to make her like that? He could wonder, though he wouldn't dare ask anyone but Maria.

"No offense," Rose began to say to the male as she progressively chipped the shell of her crab leg away, placing the little orange bits on a plate, "But I don't think she'll marry you. You're pretty and all, but she has problems with boys."

"I don't expect her to," He replied curtly, "And I don't want to duel her. It's her kingdom, she is the rightful ruler. She has the pearl, and besides, I don't think I would look that good in a dress."

Rose laughed. Orabelle wondered if it was out of the ordinary for a boy to wear a dress. "But anyway," He continued, "Are those the only two ways?"

"Unfortunately," Orabelle replied, frowning. "Things like this never happen. Nania's case is the only one I've ever heard of, and that's because we share the same pearl and kingdom."

Silo didn't look happy at all. "Both options are...ugh. I don't like them, and I'll leave it at that."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Half an hour and seventeen crab legs later, Orabelle and Rose swam through the castle, offering to help reluctant mermaids with party preparations. Silo said he was going to look for something in the library, and Clara followed him to it, offering to help, though the most she could do was chatter and exaggerate.

Still locked within one of the many inner chambers of the castle, Maria lay on her bed, eyes wide open. Somehow, after crying for a couple hours, and swimming for a few more, she couldn't sleep. She was tired, but she found she couldn't keep her eyes closed for more than a few seconds. Everything was so alien to her right now, and far too intriguing to clear from her buzzing head.

She rolled over and buried her face into one of the pillows. "How frustrating," She mumbled, unable to hear herself. "I just want to sleep, to wake up and find this was a dream..."

Just then, someone knocked loudly on the door, startling Maria. She rolled over again and frowned. _If I didn't open the door for the last six people, what makes others think I'll open it for them…?_

"Princess!" A female voice called, followed by another knock on the door, "Please come out! It's time to start preparing you for the ceremony! There is much to be done! Scales to be scrubbed, pearls to string, please don't hold this up!"

Maria mentally sighed. She didn't want to open the door for anyone, but she knew it wouldn't be very polite to keep holding up those who were just doing their jobs. She half-heartedly left the bed and swam to the door, unlocked it and opened it. The scent of lavender flooded her nostrils. She only had a second to wonder how she could smell underwater before two of the mermaids grabbed her and lead her to a large room filled with mirrors.

"Sorry for that," One of the mermaids, an adult with long white hair, began to say. "But we knew you didn't want to leave."

Maria barely heard the mermaid over her own dizzying, bemused thoughts. The two mermaids sat the princess down on what looked like a glorified stool, right in front of the vanity mirrors. Two more mermaids swam up beside her. They both grabbed what looked like toothbrushes from the vanity counter, along with a jar full of a substance resembling pink jelly, and went right to work polishing her tail scales. Another mermaid began painting Maria's nails a purple-tinted indigo, and the last mermaid, the one with the white hair, began to brush Maria's own light-colored locks straight after removing her hairclip.

So many people around her, _touching her_, made her flustered and the stench of lavender was making her light-headed and sick.

_It'll be worth it by the end_. She thought to herself, trying not to breathe.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Meanwhile, in the library, Silo was pushing a bookcase aside whilst three librarians gripped his arms and torso, making attempts to pull him away. They shouted things like "Don't do this!" and "Leave the library this instant!", but he ignored them. They didn't exist to him right now, and neither did Clara, who was shouting once again about something or other he didn't care to understand.

"Didn't you say you were going to help?" Silo asked, throwing a scowling glance to Clara.

"Oh, indeed I did!" Clara exclaimed, throwing her arms up and nearly dropping the Prince's cloak-like coat, "But alas, I cannot! Such fussy librarians hinder me; they'd shove me out easier than they would you!"

Silo rolled his eyes. _Thank you for being helpful_, He thought sarcastically, _I'm completely fine right here, so please don't trouble yourself._

Even with the mermaids trying to pull him away, Silo managed to push the heavy bookcase aside. The librarians released him when they saw why; there was a shelf in the wall behind this bookcase, and in this shelf sat a long, ornate box. Silo removed the box from the wall, turned to the mermaids and said, "I'll be going now, I'm sorry for the fuss I've caused."

The blond left the library with the box. Clara followed closely behind, attempting to peek over his shoulder at the item. Once they were in the hall, Silo suddenly thrust the box into Clara's arms and took his coat back.

"Clara, in this box is something extremely precious to the kingdom," He said matter-of-factly, "I trust you to take care of this in case it is needed tonight. Can you do that?"

Clara, puzzled speechless for once, nodded.

Silo smiled. "Good. I have a party to prepare for, so keep it safe until then."

The prince turned to leave. Once Clara was sure he was out of earshot (in case the box squeaked), Clara tried to peek inside it. The lid wouldn't open. She tried pulling on it with more force, but it didn't budge.

"Such treasure must be more than precious, for a case to be so hard to open." Clara mused to herself after a minute, "I know just where to keep this until the time comes."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Catch!"

A roll of lacey ribbon was sent flying across the room. Orabelle swam quickly to get it. She had the oddest feeling that something bad would happen if it touched the floor, but she caught it before it could land on the blue tiles.

"Would it be so hard to just swim on over with it?"

Rose laughed. "Yes. Yes it would. I have pitching-arms, and I like to throw things."

"I've noticed," Orabelle replied, remembering every item she had seen the Princess throw today, which was almost everything she had touched. Rose could throw _hard_, and as of right now they were still missing two rolls of ribbon lace and a sea-sponge. "But what if you lost this one too?"

"I'd find it."

"Right, right…" Orabelle began wrapping the ribbon around the balcony banisters in the ballroom. She'd been at this for quite a while. A Mermaid Princess's coming of age ceremony was the biggest and most important party she would have, so everything had to be frilly, lacey and festive. No corner could go without a bit of shine, and every banister had to have ribbons and lace. It was as much a pain to set up as it was to take down.

"Are we anywhere near done yet?"

Orabelle shook her head. "Not even," She responded. "We might be if this was any other room, but it's the biggest. We're probably only half-done."

Rose groaned. "That…kind of sucks."

"Well, no use complaining about it," Orabelle said as she resumed wrapping ribbon lace on the banister, "We volunteered."

"I know, I know…" Rose waved one hand dismissively, and with the other, she grabbed a sea-sponge. She continued to scrub the floor with it, trying to get a shine even though she knew that wouldn't happen. There wasn't nearly enough light in this room for it-at least, not yet. And she certainly didn't enjoy cleaning the floor. She didn't enjoy cleaning anything, actually; someone else always did it for her when she was home. She did volunteer to do it here, but it was agitating her, because there was so much space to clean, and not enough help.

"Ugh, what's the point of scrubbing algae off the floor if there clearly isn't any?" She asked after a while. "I bet it's too cold for anything to survive down here, anyway."

Orabelle shrugged. "_Why_ are you cleaning the floor? It already looked spotless enough before you started."

Rose dropped the sponge. A pout found its way onto her face as she thought about it. "I guess you're right, we never even touch it anyway…and I don't know, I just went to do it."

Orabelle smiled softly. It wasn't the nice, sweet kind of 'oh, you silly thing' smile, but more of an amused one that couldn't bring itself to become something like a smirk. "Right, so finish cleaning the spotless floor, and then we'll go see Maria. She should be getting cleaned up right about now."

"_That_ is going to be _so fun _for her," Rose mumbled sarcastically as she went back to scrubbing. "I miss my dresses."

Orabelle wrapped her last bit of ribbon around the banister, tying the end into a neat little bow with the end of another strand. "I hope by 'fun' you mean 'terrifying as all Hell', because that's how she'll see it."

Rose frowned. "Yeah, that's what I meant. She's really fragile, it's almost annoying."

Orabelle just shrugged at that comment. "It's a fault. We all have them, and they suck."

With one last wiping motion, Rose dropped the sponge. Her opinion was that the floor was clean enough, and if it really bothered someone else, they could deal with it. She was tired and didn't have enough patience or motivation to continue.

"Let's go see Maria."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

1. The telepathy: This was actually used in the manga, and more extensively in the anime due to fillers. Most notably was the Momo episode.

Wow I think that's the only note I have :U Story-wise, anyway. For those that have (or haven't) noticed, the site's down. Freewebs did away with the SSI coding so I have to go in and edit every single page. BROOKLYN RAGE UGH.

Misha~ I didn't actually intend for him to look like Hippo, I just wanted a pretty prince character, and they always seem to be blond. Green eyes because blue is overused, but he is kinda hippo-ish in appearance, isn't he?~ Yeah I realized the silo thing too late orz and she will, one day. Not too soon, but one day.

Miss Winged~Smasher~ Everyone is everything for Rose, it seems, despite her horrible temper XD Thank you!~

If anyone, ANYONE would be so kind as to _demand_ the next chapter in the reviews, maybe even order I write it faster or send the sharks, it'll be done quicker. I don't do well when there's no one waiting on me orz


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